A/N: To date, this is one of my favorite chapters in this story. I hope you guys like it as much as I do. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

I don't own the Potter universe.

His Final Word

"So, you're moving on Thursday?"

Tonks nodded with a smile. "Yup, that's the day."

Olivia returned the smile. They were doing patrol duty of Diagon Alley together; it was the first time they had been assigned to work together. Olivia was pleased to find that Tonks was a great coworker. They shared the same work ethic, and, having both been Moody's students, tended to react the same way in each situation they encountered. As their shift drew closer to ending, Olivia became even happier that she had chosen to work with Tonks at Hogwarts. She was sure they would develop a strong working relationship.

"I'm excited to move, but I'm a bit sad," Tonks confided as they turned a corner. "I'm going to miss my old flat."

"Yeah, it's always tough to move," Olivia said. She smiled. "At least you'll still be able to speak the language."

Tonks laughed. "I hadn't thought of that. You were very brave to move to France when you did."

Olivia shook her head. "I wasn't brave. I was distraught. I didn't know what to do, or how to go on living here. James and Lily had just died, we believed that Peter had died, and we believed that Sirius was responsible for all of it. It was as though my entire world had been ripped apart and thrown on the ground. I couldn't deal with it – so I left."

"I can't even imagine going through something like that," Tonks said softly. "I don't know if I could do it."

"Of course you could," Olivia replied. "It's amazing what you can overcome. I just hope you never have to test your limits."

Tonks nodded, searching for a new, happier subject. "Have you found a house here?"

Olivia shook her head. "Dana just found hers, so everything's been focused on helping her get settled."

"How does Laura like the new house?" Tonks grinned.

"She actually really likes it," Olivia smiled. "She has a great room, though. I can't see why she wouldn't like it. It has this huge closet and a big bay window with a window seat. It's the kind of room I wished for when I was her age."

Tonks grinned. "I'm glad they're happy with it."

"Oh, they are," Olivia said. "They expect to be completely moved in by Thursday, so Remus can go help you with a clear conscience."

"He doesn't need to help me if he's busy," Tonks said quickly. "I can always have my dad come and help."

Olivia shook her head. "Don't you even suggest it to him," she said. "He promised you first, and he never breaks promises. He'd feel awful if he went back on his word to you. The fact that he had your permission wouldn't matter. He'd still beat himself up over it for weeks – months, even."

"Noted," Tonks said.

Olivia smiled. "He's a good guy. He just tends to be a bit too honorable about some things."

"Yeah, I can see that," Tonks said quietly.

They turned down another, quieter street. Olivia looked around apprehensively.

"Something's wrong here," she said softly.

Tonks held her wand up as she turned on the spot, searching for anyone who could be hidden in the area. "It's too quiet," she whispered.

Olivia raised her wand as well. "Come out with your hands where we can see them!" she yelled. "Show yourself!"

No one appeared, but there was a rustling behind a group of boxes that were stacked next to a business's back door. Tonks looked at Olivia. Together, they moved toward them.

"I said to show yourself!" Olivia said as they approached the boxes.

Still, no one appeared. Tonks looked at Olivia again, then kicked the closest boxes, knocking them all to the ground. They fell, revealing –

"Mundungus!" Tonks exclaimed. "What are you doing, hiding like that? We were ready to take you in for questioning!"

"Ah, Tonks, you wouldn't do that to me," he said with a sheepish smile. He quickly stowed a few articles in the bag he carried.

"You didn't answer her question," Olivia said pointedly. "Why were you hiding? Why didn't you come out when I asked you to?"

"Well, I was meeting one of my contacts," Mundungus said slowly. "He's not exactly the best sort, so we tend to meet in back alleys …"

"Right," Tonks said, rolling her eyes. "And why didn't you show yourself when asked?"

"I didn't know it was the two of you," Mundungus said, giving them a smile. "I had no idea you had come back, Olivia. I heard your voice, but I didn't realize it was really you."

"Well, now you know," she said. "And, really, Dung, you should probably avoid meeting your contacts in Diagon Alley. It's under some serious Auror surveillance right now."

"Right. Thanks for the tip," he said with a nod. "Well, ladies, it's been a pleasure, but I know you're busy, and so am I …"

He Disapparated, leaving Olivia and Tonks alone in the street. Olivia looked at Tonks with raised eyebrows.

"He's stealing something from somewhere," she said. "I just wish I knew where."

"We're probably better off not knowing," Olivia said. She glanced at her watch. "Well, our shift is up. Shall we go back to the department to write our report?"

"Sounds like fun," Tonks said sarcastically. "Can we include running into Dung?"

Olivia laughed. "I'd say yes, but, given the way things are running now, I'm afraid that would make him a wanted Death Eater."

Remus was up early on Thursday morning. He generally rose early, but rarely with the same feeling of nervousness and excitement. He shook his head as he turned on the water in the shower.

"You are just helping her move," he muttered to himself. "You're doing what Sirius would have done for her if he were here."

Having settled that with himself, he turned his face into the steady stream of water.

By the time he made his way down to the Leaky Cauldron's dining room for breakfast, Olivia was already there. She was seated at a table by herself, sipping coffee and reading the Daily Prophet. Remus crossed the room and sat down with her.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," she smiled. "Are you ready for Tonks's big move?"

"I guess," Remus smiled. "I still have quite a bit of time to get ready, though – she doesn't want to start until noon."

Olivia glanced at her watch. "Well, we can have a leisurely breakfast, then."

"Sounds great," Remus said.

"We need to talk, too."

"Now, that sounds a bit ominous."

She smiled. "It shouldn't. I just wanted to talk about looking for a flat."

"Oh! Yes, I suppose we do need to talk about that."

"Right," she smiled. "Now that Dana and Laura are settled, we can focus on ourselves for awhile. I've found a few places in today's paper that look promising. They're all in Hogsmeade, like we talked about. I thought maybe we could go see them Saturday."

"Why not tomorrow?"

"I have to work."

"Ah, the plight of the employed," Remus said.

Olivia smiled and shook her head. "Saturday will be fine, I'm sure."

"Yes, Saturday is fine," Remus smiled. "Tell me about these places we're going to see."

Olivia launched into detailed descriptions. They discussed the pros and cons of each flat, then agreed that they couldn't make any real decisions until they had seen them all.

"I'll make the arrangements today while you're with Tonks," Olivia said.

"I thought you were working today?"

"In the evening," she replied. "I have the afternoon to take care of everything."

Remus nodded. "Thanks for doing that."

"Don't mention it."

Remus glanced at his watch, noting that it was nearly noon. "Wow, the morning is already gone! How did that happen?"

Olivia grinned. "What can I say? We talk a lot."

"Obviously," Remus said. "Well, love, I need to be off, or I'll be late for Tonks." He leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I'll see you tonight."

"Probably not," she said. "I'm sure you'll be sound asleep by the time I get back. I work until midnight. We can do an early breakfast tomorrow, though."

"Great. I'll see you then."

"Bye," Olivia said, watching as he Disapparated. She smiled to herself. She rather hoped that Remus and Tonks would indeed have the "private party" that she and Dana had anticipated for them.

Remus Apparated just outside Tonks's building. He rang her flat, and she admitted him to the building. He made his way up the stairs to her flat; her door was open and waiting for him to enter.

"You know, it's not a good idea to leave your door open like that," he said as he walked into her flat, closing the door behind him.

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the advice, Dad."

He smiled. "We live in dangerous times."

"Don't I know it," she smiled. "Hi, Remus. Thanks for coming to help me."

"I'm glad I could help," he said. He looked around the rather empty flat. "So, what do we need to do?"

"Well, I already have everything all packed," she said. "I was just starting to shrink down my boxes, if you'd like to help with that. That way we can take everything in one trip."

"Right," Remus agreed.

They shrunk all her boxes and furniture fairly quickly. When they were done, they loaded everything into their pockets.

"Let me make sure we have everything," Tonks said. She walked through the flat several times before she was satisfied that she had not forgotten anything.

"Are you ready?" Remus asked.

She looked around her living room, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. She tried furiously to blink them back, not wanting to cry in front of Remus, who was watching her battle for control.

"Tonks?" he asked gently.

"I'm fine," she said, swiping her hand across her eyes.

Remus smiled. "You're allowed to be sad to leave your house."

She shook her head. "No, it's stupid to cry over something like this. I have a perfectly good home to go to. So, let's get ourselves and my stuff there."

Without looking back again, she Disapparated. Remus followed a moment later. When he arrived in her new house, she was already pacing around the living room.

"I need to decide where I want everything," she said.

"Do you mind if I take a look around?" Remus asked.

"Oh!" Tonks exclaimed, her face lighting up. "I forgot that you've never been here before! Let me give you the grand tour!"

The new flat was similar to her old one. It had about the same amount of space in the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. This one, unlike her former home, had a balcony.

"This is nice," Remus said, stepping out onto the balcony.

"Isn't it?" Tonks asked, following him outside. "It was what sold me on the place."

"We had a balcony – Sirius, James and I," Remus said. "I loved it. I would go out on clear nights and stare at the stars."

Tonks gave him a knowing smile. "Where you an Astronomy geek?"

Remus laughed. "No, actually, I was horrible at Astronomy. I never really wanted to study it. But I love to look at the stars. There's something magical about them, isn't there?"

"Yeah, there is," Tonks agreed quietly.

Remus looked up at the gray, chilly sky for a moment, then turned to Tonks with a smile. "Well, we'd better start unpacking you, or we'll be here all day."

As it happened, unpacking Tonks did take all day. She was rather indecisive about where to put things; they rearranged the furniture in each room at least four times before she was happy. Remus was eternally grateful that she wanted to do everything using magic; he wasn't sure he would have had the strength to manually move her furniture as many times as she wanted.

When they finally collapsed on the couch, it was after ten. Tonks looked at her watch and groaned.

"We didn't even stop for dinner!" she exclaimed. "I'm starving. Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Remus admitted.

She nodded. "How do you feel about Chinese?"

"I love it," Remus said, thinking of the number of times he, James and Sirius had ordered Chinese to save themselves from cooking.

"Excellent," Tonks said. "I'll order us some. And this is my treat, so don't even think about paying."

"You want to buy me dinner?" Remus asked blankly.

"You just helped me move," she smiled. "I think I owe you dinner."

"Well, we can't have you in my debt forever, can we?" Remus smiled.

Tonks grinned, and got up to order their food.

They lounged on the couch and chatted until it arrived. Remus was reminded anew exactly how easy it was to talk to Tonks, and how much fun it was to spend time with her. He was almost disappointed when the food arrived, fearing that it would break the spirit of camaraderie.

He could not have been more wrong. Tonks served the food on the newly placed kitchen table, and brought out a bottle of wine for them to drink. Remus looked at the bottle with a raised eyebrow.

"Imbibing for the first time in the new house?" he asked.

She grinned. "Aren't you glad that I wanted to do so with you?"

"I'm honored," Remus smiled.

"Good," Tonks grinned. "Then you won't mind uncorking the bottle for me."

Remus laughed, and took the bottle from her. "Haven't mastered that one yet?"

"Well, I always break the cork when I do it manually," she said, handing him a corkscrew. "I tried to do it with magic once, but I broke the entire bottle. I had wine everywhere! So, after that experience, I decided to always let someone else handle it."

"Wise decision," Remus said, pouring them each a glass of wine. "To your new house," he said, raising his glass.

Tonks touched her glass to his, and took a sip. "Oh, this is good! Kingsley gave it to me as a house-warming gift."

"Well, tell him that it was a good choice," Remus smiled.

"I will," Tonks said. "Here, let's eat before the food gets cold."

They continued talking and drinking as they ate. They were both surprised to find that as they finished their meal, they were also finishing the wine.

"Oh, look at that," Tonks giggled. "Well, if we've come this far, we might as well finish it. I don't want to keep such a small amount of wine."

"Let's just drink it," agreed Remus, who was feeling quite mellow.

"Yeah, why not?" Tonks grinned. She topped off each of their glasses. "I think we've earned a drink, don't you?"

"Definitely," Remus smiled. He waved his wand to send the dishes from the table to the sink.

"Impressive," Tonks said. "I couldn't do that even if I were stone-cold sober."

Remus grinned. "I'm glad you appreciate my housekeeping skills."

Tonks looked at him for a moment. "You know, there's a lot I don't know about you."

"And there's a lot I don't know about you," Remus countered.

"Can we play a game?"

Remus gave her a strange look. "That didn't really follow."

"Yes, it did," she said. She stood up, picking up her glass and the nearly empty bottle of wine. "Come on, let's be more comfortable for this."

Remus followed her to the living room, and sat down with her on the couch. He looked at her quizzically.

"We're going to play Truth or Dare," she declared.

"What?"

"You don't know it?"

"No. Sorry."

She grinned. "Well, here's how it works. I'll ask you if you want a 'truth' or a 'dare.' If you choose truth, I get to ask you a question and you have to give an honest answer. If you pick dare, you have to do whatever I tell you to do. Then we switch and you ask me."

"All right," Remus agreed.

"Excellent," Tonks said. "I'll start. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No. I'm the only child. I thought you knew that."

"No, I didn't. But, I'll admit that it was a dumb question. Your turn."

"Truth or dare?"

Tonks narrowed her eyes. "Truth."

Remus smiled. "How many O.W.L.s did you get?"

"What a stupid question."

"Just answer it."

She sighed. "Twelve."

Remus's eyes widened. "You got twelve O.W.L.s?"

"You don't have to act so surprised!" she laughed. "How many did you get?"

"Eight." He shook his head. "I can't believe you got twelve!"

"You're doing wonders for my self-esteem, you know."

"No, I don't mean that I'm surprised that you did it personally – I'm amazed anyone can do it at all!"

"Well, I was a Ravenclaw," she laughed.

"I knew that, but I didn't pick you to be so studious."

She shrugged. "I knew I wanted to be an Auror, and I knew I needed top grades to do that. So, I worked really hard. My parents were so excited – you would have thought they had gotten the twelve O.W.L.s."

Remus laughed. "Well, well done."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Okay. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

She drew a deep breath. "How many girls have you kissed?"

Remus blushed. "Three."

Tonks's eyes widened slightly as she realized that she was one of those three. Somehow, the very idea made her feel rather tingly.

"Truth or dare?" Remus asked quickly.

"Dare," Tonks said playfully, trying to distance Remus from his embarrassment.

He appraised her for a moment, then grinned. "I dare you to completely un-morph."

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"Make yourself look exactly like you – and stay that way until I leave tonight."

She sighed. "You are evil."

"And you are vain," he countered.

She laughed. "Oh, all right. But you're the one who has to look at me."

Remus watched as her features melted back to the way he had seen her the night she had arrived at Sirius's house for her first Order meeting – the mouse-brown hair, the light blue-gray eyes, the small nose, the wide smile, the various scars from falling one too many times. He smiled at her.

"You look fine the way you are. Why do you feel the need to always change your appearance?"

"I'm a girl," she shrugged. "We're never happy looking the way we do naturally. It's just cheaper for me than it is for most – I don't have to spend money on makeup and hair color." She paused. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

She sighed. "You need to liven this up with a dare."

"I'll take a dare next time."

"All right." She thought for a moment. "What is your favorite color?"

Remus looked surprised. Caught off-guard, he couldn't think of any particular color he had claimed as his favorite. He cast his mind around, but the only color that came to him was the blue-gray of her eyes. "Blue," he said at last.

She smiled. "That wasn't supposed to be a hard question."

"Ah, well, I always failed the easy tests in school," he said. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she said.

Remus wondered if he dared to ask it. "How many men have you dated?"

"Two," she said. "Charlie Weasley at Hogwarts and Chris Jones during Auror training."

"When did you break up with him?"

"Which one?"

"Either, I suppose."

"Charlie and I broke up right after graduation," she said. "He found out he was going to Romania, and we just didn't see a way to make it work." She sighed. "It broke my heart. He was my first love, you know."

Remus nodded sympathetically.

"And Chris and I broke up our first year as Aurors – so, nearly three years ago. We just couldn't handle the stress of the new job plus our relationship." She paused. "How many girls have you dated?"

"It was just Laura for me," he said. "Oh, wait. I dated Melanie Larson for a few weeks at Hogwarts when Laura and I broke up."

"You and Laura broke up?"

"Yes," he said. "It wasn't for long, but it was one of the hardest periods of my life … the hardest until she died."

"And there's been no one since?" she asked, realizing for the first time why he was so hesitant to jump into a relationship.

He smiled sadly. "Not many women want to date a werewolf."

"Not everyone is afraid, you know," she said softly.

Remus looked at her for a long moment. She was the one to finally break the eye contact.

"Truth or dare?" she asked, clearing her throat.

"Dare, as promised," Remus smiled.

She looked up at him again, knowing there was only one thing she wanted to dare him to do. "Kiss me."

"What?" Remus asked.

She twirled a strand of mousy hair around her finger, fighting the urge to change its color. "Kiss me," she repeated.

Remus smiled, then leaned forward to capture her lips with his. It quickly became apparent that neither of them would be satisfied with a chaste peck. They kissed as though they would never have another chance; bodies falling back on the couch, Remus settling on top of Tonks, hands running over one another's bodies, tongues intertwining, lips pressing deeply together.

They laid together on her couch, snogging like two teenagers, for quite some time. It wasn't until things grew more intense and Tonks undid Remus's belt buckle that he realized how desperately they needed to stop – despite the fact that he desperately wanted to continue.

"Tonks," he said breathlessly.

"What?" she asked, kissing his neck.

"Tonks, we need to stop," he said.

"No, we don't," she said. She slid her hands down his chest, down his stomach, and showed no signs of stopping.

Remus pulled together all of his considerable will power and sat up. "Yes, we do."

"Why?" she asked, looking at him with hurt and confusion. "Remus – don't you want this as much as I do?"

"We can't, Tonks," he sighed, getting up off the couch. "We just – we can't. I need to go."

"Remus, please," she said, following him to the door, looking up at him with eyes that betrayed her soul. "Please, don't go."

He looked down at her, terrified by the love he read in her eyes. "You know how much I care about you, don't you?"

"Tell me," she whispered.

He leaned down to kiss her again, this time sweetly, gently. "That much," he whispered.

With that, he Disapparated.

Remus practically ran down the hall to Olivia's room, saying a prayer of gratitude when he saw light peeking out from under the door. He knocked on the door and only waited a moment before she answered it, looking completely shocked to see him.

"Remus?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

He bit his lip. "I really messed up, Liv."

She opened the door wider. "Come in. Let's talk."

Remus followed her into her room, and sat down at her desk. "I just left Tonks."

Olivia nodded.

"Liv – I kissed her. I mean really kissed her." He blushed, knowing that only the fact that he was inebriated let him confess this to Olivia. "It was leading … well, you know where it was leading."

Olivia bit her lips to keep from smiling. "I thought there might be something there."

"No! There can't be!" Remus exclaimed. He reached up to clutch his hair in a gesture reminiscent of James. "Don't you see, Liv? I can't let this happen. I can't let her fall in love with me!"

Olivia's eyes widened. "Remus, don't you think you're being a bit harsh? She's a great girl."

"Exactly," he said, looking at her with tortured eyes. "And that's why we can't be together. She deserves someone so much better than me."

"You're being too hard on yourself."

"No, you don't understand – you weren't there – "

"Then tell me. Make me understand."

He sighed. "We moved all her stuff, then we had dinner. We started drinking wine with dinner, and finished the bottle between the two of us."

"So you're drunk?" Olivia asked.

Remus shook his head. "When have you ever known me to get drunk off two and a half glasses of wine?"

"Hogwarts, maybe?"

"Exactly. I can handle my alcohol far better now."

"Was she drunk?"

Remus shook his head. "We were both tipsy, though. Mellow, really." He sighed. "Liv, if it hadn't been for the wine, I would never have kissed her like that."

"Are you sure? I mean, I know your inhibitions were lowered, but is that the only reason you kissed her?"

"God, no," he admitted. "I wanted it – if things had gone like I wanted them to, I would still be with her right now."

"Then why aren't you?" she asked softly.

"It can't happen," he said hoarsely. "It just can't. And she needs to know that. I need – I need to decide …" He got up from his chair. "I need to sleep. Good night, Liv."

"Good night, Remus."

She sat looking at the door long after he had gone, wondering why he always had to make everything so difficult for himself.

The next morning, it was a considerably calmer Remus who descended into the dining room for breakfast. Again, Olivia was already seated when he made his appearance.

"Hi," she said with a tentative smile. "How are you?"

"Much better," he said, sitting down at her table. "I'm sorry that I put you through all that last night."

"Remus, don't worry about it," she said. "You were panicked. I'm glad you came to talk to me. That's what friends are for." She paused. "Last night, you said you needed to decide something. Have you made a decision?"

He nodded. "I'm going to go talk to her today. I need to tell her how I feel."

She bit her lip. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yes. She needs to know. It's not fair of me to just let her think that we could have something, when in reality …"

"Remus, why can't you have something with her?" Olivia asked.

He smiled sadly. "I'm too old for her," he said. "I don't have a job. And, above all else, there's my 'furry little problem.'"

She sighed. "I really think those are all things that you can overcome."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Can you tell me when she's working today?"

"She has the afternoon shift," Olivia sighed. "She'll be off at eight."

"Thanks, Liv."

Olivia nodded, but didn't reply. Her only thought was that Tonks certainly would not thank her for giving out that piece of information.

Remus waited until half past eight to go to Tonks's new home. He wanted to give enough time to make sure she would be home, and to let her settle in. When he did arrive, he reached up to knock on her door with a shaking hand.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Remus Lupin," he said.

She opened the door and looked at him with wide eyes. "Remus," she said. "Hi."

"Hi, Tonks. Can I come in?" He wasn't surprised to see that she no longer sported her brown hair and blue eyes; she now had red hair and brown eyes.

"Of course," she said, opening the door fully to allow him to enter. "How are you?"

"Fine. You? How was work?"

"Oh, you know. Just trying to work out a game plan for my team." She bit her lip. "Can I get you a drink?"

"No, I don't … Tonks, we need to talk."

"All right," she said nervously, leading him to the couch. "Let's sit down."

"Tonks, about last night … I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" she repeated. "Remus, you don't have anything to be sorry for. We both acted on our feelings, and we have nothing to be ashamed of." She smiled slightly. "Unless you're apologizing for stopping us. That you should be sorry for."

He smiled slightly. "No, I mean … Tonks, you know that you mean a lot to me. Really, you're a great person and a wonderful friend. Working with me to arrange Olivia's visit, showing me the Muggle world, helping me after Sirius died, just being you – it's all been incredible. And I thought that we could be friends and leave it at that. But, I don't think that's possible."

Her face flushed with anger. "So, you're saying that I've acted like a little girl with a crush on her older brother's best friend. You're saying that because I can't control my hormones – like the little girl that I am – we can't be friends."

"No," Remus said evenly. "No, that's not what I meant. I'm as guilty as you are. In case you missed it last night, I wanted to stay here with you as much as you wanted me to. The fact is that we're both attracted to one another."

"Exactly!" she said, cutting off the next statement that he would have made. "Exactly! So, why don't we act on it?"

"Because we can't," he said firmly. "We can't, Tonks. We're too different."

"You mean because of who I am? Because of how old I am?"

"No, love, I mean because of who I am," he said. "I'm a werewolf. You deserve so much more than me!"

"I want you," she yelled, jumping off the couch. "I don't care about your bloody werewolf problem! I don't care how old you are, or how much money you have, or about any other bloody excuse you're about to give me! I want you, Remus! That means that I want you as you are, not as you think you should be!"

He stood up to look her in the eye, sorrow etched in every line of his face. "Don't you see?" he asked quietly. "Who I am isn't good enough for you. That's why we can't ever be together. That's why we shouldn't see each other anymore. Not as friends, and certainly not as anything more."

"Remus," she said, choking back a sob, "don't do this to me. I can understand that you're not ready for a relationship, but please don't take your friendship away from me."

He shook his head. "It was going to happen either way. You're going to be at Hogwarts, and I'll be off with the werewolves soon enough."

Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "But that doesn't mean –"

"Yes, it does." He took her hands in his and raised them to his lips. He kissed them, then her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Tonks. This is how it has to be. I wish you all the luck in the world with your new mission. I know you'll be brilliant."

"Remus, please," she said, beginning to sob. "Please, don't – don't –"

"I have to," he said, feeling tears stinging the backs of his eyes. "We just can't be."

"Remus, please! Please, don't do this!"

"Tonks, please, don't make this harder than it is," he begged, looking at her with tear-filled eyes.

"How can you do this to us?" she asked through choking sobs.

"I have to," he said, knowing that he was ripping out both their hearts. He kissed her forehead. "Good bye, Tonks."

"Remus!" she sobbed. "Don't do this! I love you!"

But it was too late. He didn't hear her words. He already was gone.