International Wizarding Schools' Championship, round 3 Writing School drabble.

Beauxbatons, Year 7

Focus on dialogue

Prompt: [quote] "I don't want normal and easy and simple. I want painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, extraordinary love."

W/C: 650, including A/N

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I'm not really a Remadora shipper any more, but the prompt fit so well, and I couldn't resist some angst. I dunno about this one for writing either, but oh well.

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Remus sighed before pushing the door open, letting his head fall against his chest for a moment as he stepped in. Inside, he brushed off his cloak and swung it off his shoulders.

From deeper in the house, Tonks called out to him: "Wotcher, Remus!"

"Hello, Tonks," he said, so quietly he wondered if she would hear.

She came into the entranceway with a smile to light any room. Any room but this one. Remus eyed her bulging stomach as she entered, once again wishing that the shape was a beach ball hidden beneath her blouse or a trick they could laugh about afterwards. Beach balls didn't kick, he reminded himself as he wrapped one arm around her neck, letting the other rest on the shape.

What was he thinking? The shape. This was his own baby.

They walked into the kitchen. "You wanted to tell me something," she said as he seated himself at the table.

"Oh."

She sat opposite him with a frown. "What was it?"

"I just … the baby. This isn't going to be easy, or anything. This baby is magical. Obviously. But not in the sense you and I know, not in the sense of a spell. This baby is us. Half of you and half of me." His voice shook.

A frown of confusion furrowed her brow. "I know that, Remus. Do you think I don't see my own child as beautiful? Of course he's magical."

"Yes, but I think … I have had thirty-four years as a werewolf, Dora. And just four without. That's … that's quite a lot more than half. This beast has devoured my body and is constantly at war with my mind. It isn't only there for full moons. It claws at my heart day and night. Tonks, I… I don't know how much of me is… me. What if Teddy is like me?"

"You think I still won't—"

"I know that! I know that, for some unfathomable reason you still love me, but—"

Her hair was the deepest burgundy. "Of course I bloody love you!"

"—Tonks, I'm trying to say it's not going to be easy."

It was her turn to sigh. One hand, as always, rested on her stomach, on their child, as if she was protecting it from the world.

"I don't want normal and easy and simple!" Her voice had risen to the point that she was shouting. "I want painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, extraordinary love!"

Remus fell into silence and her voice quietened.

"Isn't that what love is, really? Looking past the scars? Is love and trust between us too much to ask for? What we have is not easy. But that's not because you're a werewolf. It's because you hate yourself, and you hate what the world has done to you. Sometimes, Remus, I feel like you hate me." The words burned in her eyes.

"I love you!" he protested, eyes burning.

"I know. I know that." She raised a hand to brush a hair from her face. "But you hate me too. You hate the baby, and you hate our life. Our amazing life. That, Remus, is why this is hard. You are the reason this is difficult. You seem to think that our love will cost us. That the baby is a price to pay, not a gift. Just… take some time to think, alright? Calm down, and don't follow me until you have."

Tonks walked into their bedroom, and Remus watched her go. Once her flaming hair was out of sight, he rested his head against the cool surface of the table and just breathed into the wood.