Hello! Here's next chapter.
I do not own Harry Potter
For more than 12 years he had been sleeping alone. Till Hogwarts, he shared a dorm with the marauders, then after Hogwarts, he often lived with Sirius or James at their flat. After Potter's death, he had moved to his parents' old cottage, and had been living there until Albus offered him a job at Hogwarts. In the beginning, it had been difficult to live alone without friends, relatives but he had got used to it and had resigned himself to a lonely life. But then Tonks came into his life and she made him forgot all about being lonely.
Today, he had came to stay at his own home, at his parents' old cottage, one of the few things that he possessed, seeing as he had not been here for a very long time, and the house needed some maintenance, time to time. So he had decided to sleep a day here, see to some chores. But when night came and he tried to sleep, all he had been doing for past two hours was some tossing and turning. He was tired, technically, he should have slept at the moment his head had hit the pillow, but he couldn't.
There were two reasons for it. Firstly, Tonks had spoiled him. With her tucked into his arms, or, him tucked into her arms, most nights, he had apparently forgotten what it was to sleep alone. He knew what peace was when he slept with her and now he felt incomplete without her. Secondly, she was today on guard duty for prophecy, and well, he couldn't quite rest well until he knew she was back home and safe.
He turned again, changing his position, burying his face in pillow. If he would just imagine her next to him, he might be able to sleep...
Suddenly he felt the dark room burst with white light through his closed eyelids. His reflexes took over and he had his wand in his hand in a second. He located the source-
A Patronus- A lynx. Kingsley.
What...?
His unasked question was answered by the patronus when it spoke in deep voice of Shacklebolt.
"Guard member attacked. At St. Mungo's. Stay put. Contact soon." and the patronus vanished.
He couldn't quiet grasp what had just happened, all that kept flashing through his head were the words 'guard member attacked' again and he couldn't make out anything because his head was buzzing with the words- Guard member... Nymphadora... On guard duty...
Guard member attacked.. Nymphadora... Dora... Tonks... Attacked...What his brain finally interpreted after 5 seconds of being dumb struck was that, Guard duty member was attacked and Tonks had been on duty this night and that meant she was attacked.
As soon as the thought created in his head he felt all the color from his face drain away. He was sure that had he been standing, his legs would have given away.
Attacked? God no! Why the hell was Patronus was so cryptic? It was clear though, the message was so vague for the Order's benefit, to maintain secrecy. His head was flashing with wild image of Tonks hurt, her body lying on floor, broken and bloodied... Lifeless...No!
Message mentioned 'St. Mungo's' surely that meant that Tonks was alive... 'was alive' the words were enough to make him nauseous.
No, no, nothing could happen to her, no nothing. He had seen her just few hours ago, and she had kissed him goodbye, accompanied by a 'I love you', surely it wasn't her last goodbye, surely it was not for the last time he saw her alive?
He swung his legs from bed, he sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. He forced himself to take a deep breath. He needed to do something, anything for her. He had to know, and for that he had to think.
He thought again, trying to calm his frantic nerves and trying to banish images of Tonks flashing through his eyes. According to Kingsley, she is in St. Mungo's, and he was probably with her, seeing as that he was her fellow auror. It helped him a bit to know that at least Tonks wasn't alone, she had a member of Order and friend with her. But if she was in Mungo's, that meant, that it was serious, otherwise why not treat her at the Ministry infirmary?
Kingsley had said to 'stay put.' How can he? Merlin knew, what state his Dora would be in, he had to be with her.
He immediately got up to dress but a thought crashed his mind. Surely others Ministry official must also be with her. What would they interpret when they would see Dumbledore's man in proximity with their Auror? He couldn't even say he was a friend, because how can an Auror be friends with werewolf? Besides, how will he explain that he had got the news of her attack? He would be endangering her career as well as Order.
God, sometimes he hated how duty bound he was!
Now is not the time. He forced himself to calm down, to try not to think of Tonks in pain. God she hated hospitals. But she was the tough one. She was an Auror, she was clumsy and broke more bones in one day than an average man would in their entire life. She could face it, whatever it was, she will fight.
Try as he might, he couldn't help but think that this was what he had feared. As soon as someone got close to him, they were snatched away from him.
He fisted his hands in his hair and gave a cry of frustration, started pacing. He was going mad. Not knowing how she was, was killing him, and he like an useless person couldn't do anything. Message had said 'contact soon.' Merlin, soon couldn't come soon enough.
God, please let her be okay, please let her be fine. Hurt me instead, but please spare her please. Dora, my love...
He decided to go to Grimmauld place, there might be any other order member whom he could ask to, Sirius might know something. Without further thought, he hurriedly donned his trousers and shirt, took his wand and hurried towards door. He almost ran to the door, and threw it open. But what he saw filled him with overwhelming relief and suspicions at once. There she was, standing on his doorstep about to knock. He stared at her open mouth for full 2 seconds, before he took her in his arms, in the largest and tightest hug of his life. He engulfed her as much as he can and felt her hugging back with same fervor, he buried his face in her neck and hair, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He was only aware about that she was fine. He swallowed the lump in his throat.
Just one last thing, I need to confirm.
He reluctantly pulled away. He poised his wand in front of her.
"What were the last words Nymphadora Tonks said to me?"
She firstly drew her eyebrows in confusion, but then realization dawned on her.
"No need to ask question, I will show you." and with that she changed her hairs from deep purple to deep green. Only she could morph, no amount of polyjuice will be able to duplicate her abilities. He finally allowed himself to breathe. He pulled her in, hurriedly closed the door, placing wards on it.
When he turned back to her, he took a good luck at her. He frantically searched with his hand for any injury on her head, hand, shoulder making sure she was fine. She seemed physically fine but her face said something else. She was trying to control her tears, biting her lips, and there were old tears tracks on her cheek. He cupped her face with both his hands and willed her to look at him.
"Nymphadora, what is it? Kingsley said guard duty member was attacked-"
She broke down in sobs and she lunged at him, burying her face in his neck. He held her tightly, rubbing her back and stroking her hairs to calm her. Now that she was here, in one piece, he could think properly. She was fine, but something else wasn't.
"Tell me, love, what happened?" he whispered in her ear, fearing what answer he would get.
She looked up and amidst sobs and hiccups tried to tell him.
"It's- it's A-a-rthur, he was attacked on duty, by..by you-know-who's s-s-snake."
His heart sank. Arthur? And Voldemort's snake, that giant snake.
"How's-how's he?"
"He is not good Remus, he is at St. Mungo's, Molly is with him. I couldn't see them but Kingsley told me. God, it's so horrible, he told me, it's not yet confirmed if-if-if he would l-l-live." she once again hugged him and sobbed , Arthur hurt, if anything happened to him what would happen to Molly and those seven kids of his? He with jolt remembered Molly's boggart. Will it come true? Were her fears going to be realized?
God, no, please let him be fine.
"It-it- feels like he took my death-my trouble on his head." said Tonks in a voice filled with guilt, muffled by his shoulder. Yes, that was what nagging him in his mind. He pulled away from her and guided her up to his sofa, made her sit and he himself knelt in front of her. He offered her a glass of water and she drank it in few gulps that seemed to calm her a bit. He then cupped her face, wiped of her tears with his thumbs and placed a soothing, chaste kiss on her lips.
"Tonks, calm down, tell me from starting what happened? Kingsley told me guard member was attacked, I thought it was you and I was terrified." he said quietly.
She took a deep breath and willed herself to speak.
"Today, when only 15 minutes were left for my duty, I was on my way to Department of mysteries, when Scrimegeour cornered me, he said that he needed me in 15 minutes to accompany two more Aurors on a raid, immediately, it was urgent order. In that span of time, I couldn't call any other member of Order, so I went to Arthur, he was just getting ready to go home, but when I told him that I won't be able to cover for duty, he readily agreed. I, well, then went to raid from there, it was fruitless, but when I returned after two hours, I found Kingsley looking all pale and frantic, he was on his way to Mungo's, and then he told me everything. He said something about Harry alerting others, I couldn't quite understand, all that was playing into my mind was that it was supposed to be me. He then told me to stay on guard and that may be Dumbledore will contact us soon. I came here as soon as I could. Remus, I feel so horrible, that man is hanging between life and death, where I was supposed to be."
At her words he leapt, and hugged her quivering form to his chest. It was true that he was terrified for Arthur, but he was also utterly relieved that she was fine.
"It's not your fault."
"I know Remus, I know, I couldn't have known but still, I feel like Arthur took the blow for me. What if anything happened to him? I would never be able to look into Molly's eyes." He kissed her top of head and caressed her back. He of all people understood the feeling of guilt and helplessness. Slowly, her sobs subsided, yet he didn't relinquished his hold on her. Harry informing them puzzled him. He hoped they will get to know whole story once everything settles.
He held her for what seemed like ages. And they waited. Waited with bated breath for news of their friend, all the while praying to whatever God would listen, to keep Arthur safe.
After what felt like eternity, a patronus arrived and they both looked at it while holding their breaths.
Kingsley's voice broke through the silence. "He is fine. Out of danger."
They both released the breaths they were holding.
"Thank god! Thank god." Tonks kept whispering and he hugged her with all the strength he could muster. She was fine, Arthur was going to be fine. He pulled her on to lap and kissed her for all he was worth. Burying his hands in her hairs, pulling her closer.
"I was terrified when I thought it was you who was attacked." he mumbled near her lips. "I was going mad with worry. I love you so much. My Dora." He tried to put as much as emotions as he could in his eyes and gestures to show her, how glad he was to see that she was fine.
She gave him a watery smile and hugged him, allowing him to pull her to his chest.
"And I love you. My Remus."
They stayed like that for few minutes. Only their breathing and rustle of leaves outside window broke into the silence. He occasionally kept kissing her on face and wondering if he could love her anymore than he already did. He took all the comfort he could in her warmth.
They were suddenly startled by a tap on the window. It was Mad-Eye's owl, because only his owl had two different colored eyes just like its owner. He got up and tried to untie the letter from its leg, but was pecked by. It was exclusively for Tonks. The owl was as paranoid as its owner.
"What it says?" he inquired when she took the letter and was done reading.
"He says that the Weasley kids and Harry are at Grimmauld with Sirius and that he and I will be escorting them to Mungo's tomorrow to see Arthur. And, well, constant vigilance."
"Kids are there? Already? That was fast! At least Sirius will be happy to have Harry for Christmas. Come on, let's go to sleep, we both are tired." he wondered that not only physical but also emotional weariness was overtaking. He put an arm around her shoulder and guided to bedroom. She took off her Auror robes, transfigured her jeans in to pajamas and borrowed his brown sweater for top. He too changed into his sleeping cloths.
When they both got in, Tonks crawled to his side immediately. He finally breathed freely to have her in his arms. Now that she was back, he could feel color coming back to his face as well as his world. His world was now incomplete without her.
"Remus, the war has started..." she said quietly, after few minutes of silence and he couldn't agree more. Even though war had not began openly, there were underlying incidents indicating that worse was coming. First war had taken away all from him that he had cherished, what disasters this war will bring? What he would have done if it was Tonks instead of Arthur? She just escaped the attack by some work of fate.
He sighed. "Nymphadora, just whatever you do, be safe, just, always come back to me. I don't know what I will do, If something happened to you."
He had almost challenged his fate by accepting love from a woman when his history was proof of how much his life was disaster in matter of friends and family.
"You too Remus, you too..."
"I wish we had a Christmas tree here." Tonks whined, while they were drinking mulled wine, snuggled into him on the sofa in front of fireplace, a blanket wrapped around them. Since Grimmauld Place was filled with kids, they decided to spend nights at his place.
"Who says you haven't?" he said, a little smugly, pulling his wand and summoning her gift, that he had made for her.
It was a miniature pink Christmas tree. It was cheap seeing that he had made it all by himself. He had to do a little hard work in searching the right tree, he had found it in near woods, about 12 inches. It wasn't exactly a tree but branch of a tree which looked like a tree. He had used a 'charms' book of his father to charm the tree permanently pink, planted in a small pot, which was charmed red. Then he had decorated the tree from bee ornaments, seeing that she loved bees. He had carved these ornaments from odd piece of metals he had found in attic of the cottage. His father had been interested in carving and had made sure to teach him basics about carving by magic. He had took the help of his father's book again to carve them as per her taste. Pink and yellow really complemented each other. Though had he been rich he would have loved to pamper her with some expensive jewellery or something, but it will have to do for now.
"Aw Remus it's so lovely." she looked mesmerized. "You made this by yourself?" she asked wide eyed.
"Mostly." he said, though a bit nervously. "You liked it? I am sorry, it's not much-"
"Don't be ridiculous Remus, it's too much, I mean, You made it yourself, anyone can buy gifts from a shop or something but no one has ever gone to this much trouble for me."
"Its no trouble, it's least I could do for you, after, all the love and care you have brought into my life." he took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. "I love you, Dora."
"And I love you, Remus." she beamed at him with shining eyes and love for the entire world to see. He conjured mistletoe, just above their heads, not that they needed an excuse to kiss, but just for the sake of tradition. He had always wanted to kiss the woman of his dreams under the mistletoe. They both leaned forward at the same time and halfway their lips met. She took a shuddering breath and he pulled her more snugly against him. She managed to put her hands beneath his collar on his skin, caressing him lovingly while his own hands were under her shirt on her bare waist. Skin against skin produced most wonderful sensations. He loved being this close to her. She was so intoxicating he felt like drinking all of her, within him, by each caress, each stroke, each kiss. The little voices she made, light moans and whimpers, only made him want her more. He pulled from her reluctantly before he got carried away. Her cheeks were flushed glorious pink and she was breathing heavily. She clambered off a bit from his lap, but still close.
"I also got something for you." she too summoned her present and he waited anxiously as to what it would be.
"Well, I debated with myself for a long time whether I should give it or not, since it seems a bit childish, but then I just said to you that anyone can get ready made gifts but handmade shows that how special you are, even though they are not much-"
He successfully halted her babbling by giving a quick kiss on her lips.
"Stop rambling, Nymphadora, give it to me."
She handed it to them a bit hesitantly. This was really thin almost as thing as a page, wrapped in a bright pink paper with red stars, he very carefully unwrapped it, as it seemed a bit delicate. They were three pieces of cardboard. First was what looked like Gryffindor mini banner, with gold and red, it was attached to a tiny ribbon. Another had a detailed drawing of a phoenix and next was what seemed like A wolf, stag, rat and a dog combined. Now that he looked closely, he realized they were bookmarks. Before he could even give second glances to them, she started to ramble, again.
"They are bookmarks, three bookmarks, I made them by myself, I have seen how much you love to read and how much you love your books and I always notice the way you furrow your brow in distaste whenever you have to dog ear your pages, as if you are insulting the book by wrinkling it pages, so I made these to help. They are charmed, you just have to place it in a book anywhere and they will automatically place themselves on the page you last left, say if you close the book in hurry or something. You liked it?" she whispered the last part and when he looked up at her she looked as if she really was regretting giving it to him. That was the last thing he wanted. He hastily cradled her face in his hands and gave her a kiss on forehead. He was surprised. No one has ever noted so little details regarding him that he disliked dog-earing the pages of his books. Moreover, he was a bit worried that she might gift him something flashy or expensive which will only make realize him further that he couldn't return the favor. Her gift though might seem insignificant to others, to him it was the most thoughtful gift and it just showed how well she knew him.
"It's very thoughtful Nymphadora, I completely adore them." he gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Really? Well I am glad. You see these are things that have most impact in your life. Like, you are a Gryffindor by heart, then this phoenix symbolizes the Order, you have been member to both and then this one is your friends who turned animagus for you. I am sorry I also showed a rat, but I guess he was your friend when at the age of 12 he decided he too wanted to help you. I hope you don't mind." she said again a bit nervously. He noticed how she had skipped taking 'peter's' name.
"It's alright. I understand, I don't know when he changed, may be when we graduated or after joining the order, but a 12 year boy cannot be so malicious at heart. He still agreed to help me by becoming an animagus." he said calmly. She really had thought about this. Anyways, no need of remembering a traitor on such a beautiful day. "Though there should also be something that symbolizes you because at the moment you have the most powerful impact on me and my life."
She beamed in response.
"There's also an attachment with my gift, though." She spoke, once again chirpily and took out a rather large package from under the sofa. He was quite surprised that she had been keeping the gift under it and he hardly took the notice. Though what surprised him more was the size of package.
"You call this attachment? or is this the actual gift?"
"Of course not! Your gift, are those bookmarks but I can't actually give you bookmarks without giving you books to mark, now, can I?" She waggled her brows suggestively.
He took the package from her, tore the wrapping to see a set of rather renowned book (and much wanted and desired by him) on Defense against Dark arts.
"Don't worry they are second hand, much cheaper." She spoke, and therefore elevating his worries about that she had got him some expensive gift.
"Thank you so much. This completes my collection, though however old and tattered my collection of books is, these books are probably in best condition." He then proceeded, placing each bookmark in each book, keeping it next to the Christmas tree. The area around the sofa almost looked like his perfect little world. He resisted the urge to aww, out of giddiness.
"Merry Christmas Reemusss." She said with lots of enthusiasm and ended up throwing herself at him, where he proceeded to celebrate one of the best Christmas of his life.
A:N/ Please do review! Also if there are any mistakes or any grammatical error please PM me or tell me in your review. English is not my first language, so I am bound to make mistakes.
Thank you to all those who took time to review, favorite or follow the story.
remusdora- Thanks for your support and enthusiasm :)
saraell- I always thought that they both got into actual relationship after Dumbledore's death (though my story contradicts it all though I would have loved if they were a couple in OoTP too). And yes you are right that it indeed seems like he died because he made it his first priority to protect his family which resulted in his inactivity which blunted his duelling capabilities . But what I was most glad about most was that J.K.R made it clear that he indeed loved Tonks almost as much as she loved him and that Tonks was his first love. I love some phrases from biography like 'seriously smitten' , 'elation that he was married to the woman of his dreams' , etc. etc. In fact whole marriage and parenthood section.
Also, loads of thanks to Guest, ellieh804, danadanaBATMAN for reviewing. :)