Another prequel chapter. I don't own it.
Weeks pass. Remus avoids Dora. Then they are called to help protect the castle. At first everything is quiet. Then the night goes haywire.
The weeks swept by. Remus went on several small scouting missions to track Death Eaters whilst avoiding Dora. He was afraid of what might happen if he didn't.
On her part, Dora continued protecting the school. At Order meetings she would try to talk to Remus, but he wouldn't let them. It was driving her nuts!
On a Saturday evening in the first week of June, Dumbledore called Tonks up to the school. She arrived to find Bill and Remus waiting for her at Dumbledore's office with McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout. Tonks was glad Snape was absent from what appeared to be a guard mission. Dumbledore explained, "I have to go out on special Order business tonight. I have no idea when I'll be back." he added, sounding infuriatingly cheerful at the prospect. Then he sobered.
"There is a high possibility that there will trouble of some sort. Tom has eyes everywhere." he sighed and looked around at them all. Tonks would remember the look in his eyes for a long time: the twinkle was dimmed slightly but still present; he looked trusting yet strangely regretful... Almost sad. "Keep watch. Stay calm. Above all, trust one another." he said quietly, "I trust in you." he smiled as Minerva led the way out of the office to start the patrol. Just as the door shut, Remus thought he heard Dumbledore murmur, "Goodbye."
For the first hour or so of the patrol it was quiet. Quiet enough to be distracting. At this late hour, any misbehaving students had gone to bed it seemed. Dora wished they hadn't. Sure, it made their job easier, but with no distractions her mind was free to wander. Her thoughts flew rapidly around her head...and most of them centred on the handsome, stubborn, blue-eyed man with that damn irresistible smile patrolling near her.
Remus was having similar problems. It was so damn tempting being so close to Dora. But he couldn't. It was imperative that he didn't. He was too dangerous. Being around her was intoxicating, though. Especially as he'd allowed the inner wolf more control tonight.
Enhanced senses normally came in handy in these sorts of missions, but tonight, all it was doing was making it difficult to concentrate. All he could smell was her. Moony alerted him to her footsteps – her voice – before anyone else's. His eyes were constantly being drawn to her, too. It was torture, really.
Dora made sure to keep behind or in front of Remus at all times. She was not taking any chances of walking side-by-side. Who knew what would happen then?
But some questions would not go away.
"Remus," she finally said. He jumped about a foot in the air before turning to her, tense.
"Yes... Tonks?" he asked sharply.
Dora sighed. "When we helped Mitch and the group, the baby I tried to take..." she paused, "Who... I mean how..."
"Was he able to transform completely without the full moon?" Remus finished for her. Dora nodded. Remus sighed. He supposed he should've wondered when this would come up. "Have you ever heard of Natural Animagi?"
"Oh," Dora said, a sudden idea forming. "Er... Not really."
Remus nodded. "A Natural Animagus is a person who can transform easily into their animagus form from the age of two. They occur every two hundred years or so and remain in the genetics for a few generations before disappearing again. Similar to Metamorphagi." his eyes met hers for a moment and both almost smiled before schooling their features.
This was becoming too much like the long conversations at Headquarters for comfort. Remus quickly went on, "A lesser-known fact about them is that if a werewolf bites them before their second birthday, they will become a werewolf. That, unfortunately, happened to the baby you saw."
"Oh," Dora said quietly. Both suddenly realised just how close to each other they were. They were standing next to each other. Centimetres away. Dora saw Remus swallow as she looked at him. His eyes slid across her face as though he was afraid to look directly. The tension was palpable. Dora opened her mouth to say something – she wasn't sure what – but was interrupted by a series of bangs and shouts.
Ginny and Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom came tearing around the corner. "Oh!" Neville yelped as he saw the group they'd ran into. "Um... Hi? Good to see you all. Hogwarts is under attack. By Death Eaters."
Remus and Dora exchanged a glance. Oh, hell.
Oh hell indeed. Quick, click next!