"Am I going to have to be the one to address the elephant in the room?"
"I've no idea what you're talking about," Molly said to Charlie. She was fussing over her son, recently returned from Romania and looking somewhat worse for wear. Although that was one way of putting it – he was clearly quite content there, despite the dangerous nature of his job. He had left unhappy over the non-existent state of his relationship with Tonks, but now appeared a lot happier and settled.
"I think what Charlie means is he wants to know what's going on between Remus and Tonks," Mad-Eye said with a smirk.
Molly was immediately flustered. "I've no idea – " she started to say.
Charlie interrupted her good-naturedly. "Cut the crap, mum," he said. "You must know something. You always know something. You're the biggest gossip around. Look, I just want to know if she's happy. She looks miserable. I can't believe I actually miss that bright pink hair."
Tonks had returned to the mousy brown that was her natural colour, but which she had rarely sported since she had mastered the art of changing her appearance. "She confronted him the moment she got here, and he hauled her into the next room to hash it out," Moody offered. "Neither of them has said anything about it since. Sirius might know, but he's pretty loyal to them both."
Charlie looked confused. "I was under the impression they had this ongoing thing."
"Merlin, no. They hadn't seen each other for like six years before she joined the Order. I think he stayed away because Andromeda asked him too. And he got a lot of flak two years ago when Severus outed them – spiteful bit of handiwork there, if you ask me," Moody added. "Think it made him realise just how many people were against the idea of them being together, her being a Black and him being a half-blood and a werewolf. I think Narcissa actually preferred you."
"That's saying something," Charlie said dryly. They were distantly related to the Malfoys, and Narcissa had made it clear she thought the Weasleys were beneath the Blacks, even a Black-in-exile like Tonks. "I should go and talk to her," he said.
Moody raised his eyebrows warningly. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you boy?" he growled. "She won't take you back for being on the rebound, and even if she did, I would have thought you'd have learnt your lesson right now."
Charlie could tell his mother was looking anxiously at him, waiting for his answer. "I never realised how much time I spent trying to make her love me back," he recalled ruefully. "I wish I had seen the signs but I was so full of myself, big Quiddich star, thinking I could win her affections off him. I think she liked the protection of having a steady boyfriend, she got harassed so much by the boys at Hogwarts, and I, well, I liked her enough to let her use me. I don't have anyone but myself to blame for that. And I'm OK with that these days. I'm only sorry that I let my infatuation with her undermine our friendship. She was a much better mate then she was a girlfriend."
He found her room a few minutes later, the hard way – walking through the house. It was way too unfamiliar to Appirate around the place. He knocked on her door. She was sitting on her bed, reading a book, looking decidedly drab. "Hey, you," he said. "What happened to the pink hair? I can't believe I actually miss it."
She smiled wanly. "Can't be bothered," she said.
He sat down beside her. "You want to tell me what's up?"
She made a face. "No offence, Charlie, but I'm not in the mood to hear your opinions on Remus."
"I'm not here to give them. Look, I did a lot of thinking when I first got to Romania. I wasted a lot of time and effort wanting something more from you then you were able to give. And you know what? All it got me was an undermined friendship. So I'd like to try and be friends again if that's possible. And that includes listening to your boyfriend woes, if you want to share."
Tonks smiled sadly, the tears threatening in her eyes. "He's not my boyfriend, Charlie," she said.
"I kind of gathered that by the drab appearance, I was just trying to be polite. What happened then? Moody said you had some kind of a fight." At that, Tonks started to cry in earnest and he patted her awkwardly, the affection so unfamiliar now. "It can't be that bad, Tonks. I saw you together, remember? I don't remember ever seeing two people so hot for each other."
"That was before I was with you," she sniffled. "He called me a whore."
Charlie's eyes went wide with horror. "He did what?" he asked incredulously. "Oh, I am so going to have something to say to him."
"Charlie, don't. You'll only make him mad. It was because of us anyway."
Charlie frowned. "I don't get it."
"He could smell you on me."
Charlie's frown got deeper. "I still don't get it. I haven't seen you in years."
"Yeah... but he could still smell you on me."
"No, he can't."
"He said he could."
"Tonks, I don't know why he'd say something like that. I know a little bit about werewolves, OK? Yeah, they have a pretty amazing sense of smell, but he wouldn't be picking up something from years ago. It sounds like he's having you on."
"But why – " she wondered, and then it all made sense. He hadn't been particularly upset when Charlie had kissed her all those years ago, so why would he care that she'd been with someone else after he'd left her... unless he didn't, and had used it as a handy excuse to push her away. "Oooh, thankyou!" she said, throwing her arms around Charlie's neck, feeling her most exuberant since her fight with Lupin.
"You're welcome, I guess," Charlie said, although he had no idea what Tonks was thanking him for. Lupin didn't sound like he was playing with all the cards in his deck. "I think I hear mum calling me to help with dinner. She doesn't like me being too far out of sight," he said dryly. He could train dragons in Romania but he could still come home and be like a boy on his first day at Hogwarts.
He left Tonks's room, not seeing Lupin as he went. Lupin tried to avoid this floor in an attempt to avoid Tonks, but he hadn't been able to help it today. He scowled deeply when he saw Charlie coming out of her room. She had a right to do what she wanted, of course, but that didn't make it any easier for him to deal with.
Bitterly he thought about how quickly she had jumped back into bed with Charlie. Well, she would no doubt have done the same thing with him, given half the chance. He had definitely been right not to get involved with her again.
He just wished it didn't hurt so much.
Lupin was in the study – ironically the room he had hauled her into the first day she had arrived, no restored to something resembling its former glory – when Tonks knocked on the door. He stiffened up when he saw her. "I didn't think you were the studying time – or the cleaning type," he said dryly. The study still needed some work done.
"No, but I'm your type," she said in her best attempt to sound sensual, which on Tonks just sounded tacky. He liked her better when she was her natural, clumsy, upfront self.
He frowned. "No idea what you're talking about."
"I'm talking about you lying about being able to smell Charlie on me. You didn't care when he kissed me at Hogwarts, so why would you care about something I did after you left me which has been over for years?" Her eyes shone brightly with hope and passion.
"OK, fine, I lied. But now I can smell him on you," Lupin said truthfully, and the thought of her with anyone, but especially him drove him half-crazy with jealousy.
"So, I hugged him before. You've got to be less jealous, Lupin. I can hug other men if I want to."
Lupin shrugged. "It's immaterial to me if you're with other men or not," he said in a cool voice.
Tonks glared at him. "Don't you dare try and pull that shit on me, Remus. Not this time. I know you still want me."
"OK, so what if I do? It's not going to happen."
"You don't have the right to make that choice for both of us!" she yelled at him, her anger growing at just how infuriating he could be with this 'too old, too poor, too dangerous' crap.
He rose. "Yes, I do," he argued. "You really don't get it, do you? You've spent your life in this safe, comfortable life knowing nothing both love. I think your mother and I tried too hard to protect you. It's a cruel world out there, Tonks, which you will discover if you get involved with me, and I will not let you do that."
"You don't get to make that decision for me," she repeated stubbornly, and she threw herself into his arms, kissing him passionately. Despite himself, he found himself kissing her back, wrapping his arms around her waist, spinning her around and sitting her on the desk. She brought her hands up to his hair, running her fingers through it, tugging on it the way he liked, breathing him in, savouring him. "Remus," she moaned between kisses. "Remus, I've missed you..."
He pulled away. "This can't happen," he said. "It won't happen. Do you understand?" he could see from the confused look in her eyes that she didn't. "If you won't leave me alone, then I'll be forced to leave the Order, and that will mess up all Dumbledore's security measure. But I will leave if I need to be away from you. Do you understand?" he pressed.
Her eyes went wide with comprehension as it sunk in what he was saying. He could desire her until the end of time, but he wouldn't do anything about it, would run to the ends of the earth, would inconvenience one of the few people who had continued to have faith in him, to get away from her. "Fuck you," she said.
Anger, he thought, was good. Better that she be angry at him then infatuated. "Go," he said harshly. "Leave me be."
She slid off the desk, acute aware of her wrinkled clothes. "Go to hell," she snapped at him, her heart aching at yet another rejection. What was it about this man that no matter how nasty he was to her, she still loved him? "I wish I'd never met you."
"Believe me," he said, "the feeling's mutual."
She stormed out of the room, except in typical Tonks fashion, she collided into the wall. Because it was such an old house, the wall crumbled under the impact. She screamed suddenly, an agonising wail of someone in intense pain. Lupin rushed towards her, because he knew this old house was still infested with all manner of things that slithered, crawled, flew – and lived in walls. Several of them very dangerous.
His heart sank when he saw what it was. Called a waper, it looked a little like a scorpion, except it was far more venomous – and far more territorial. With six legs that had wrapped itself around Tonks's lower arm and a long, spiky tail that was swishing across her skin in a way that even a person who knew nothing about the animal knew that it was angry that someone had just crashed into its home. For good measure, it had sunk its fangs deeply into her skin, which was what had caused her scream.
The waper liked dark, cold spaces where it was likely to be left alone – so the walls of old, derelict houses like the Black one was perfect for it. It speared smaller invaders of its territory with its fangs, and larger ones, like a human's, it wrapped its legs around a body part and sank its fangs in. Its highly toxic venom was enough to kill all but the largest of creatures with a few doses, and it had already given Tonks one.
Thinking more for her life than his – a second dose would kill her, there was no doubt about it – he grabbed the waper by its tail, pulling it down her arm and tossing it on the floor, throwing the silver dagger he always carried on him – ironically, more as a symbol of how much he detested werewolves in general and his willingness to kill any one of them that didn't respect human life – at it with deadly accuracy. He turned back to Tonks. There were two deadly-looking bite marks near her elbow, and a two nasty grazes down her arms where he had forced the waper to slide down. Stupid, he thought of himself. The waper might just have bitten again to gain a stronger grip on its prey. But then, it might have done that as well if he had tried to yank it up off her arm, and at least he had prevented it from biting her again –
"Remus," she whispered, and he could see that the venom was already taking effect. It was a painful way to die, with the toxin coursing through the system, eroding tissue, muscle and organs like acid on metal. Tonks's size as a human in fact made it worse; a smaller creature would have been killed instantly.
"It's OK," he whispered hoarsely, knowing that it wasn't. He took her in his arms and led her away from the wall, away from the waper – ironically, being so territory, it was next to impossible for there to be another such creature around, but he wanted to get away from the door nonetheless. He felt her tremble and struggle to stand up and the pain increased and she screamed again.
Heehee, better get me plenty of feedback OR NO CHAPTER THIRTEEN!