Chapter Six – I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do

Love me or leave me,

Make your choice,

But believe me – I love you

I do, I do, I do, I do, I do!

"I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", ABBA ~

Author's Note: Well here it is! The chapter you have all been waiting for – dun dun DUN!! Thank-you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and who has added this story to their favourites and alerts – it warms the cockles of my heart and I hope to hear from you again!:-) I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations and don't forget to review at the end!

Disclaimer: I own none of it. All recognisable events, characters and dialogue are JK Rowling's. This is just my interpretation of them.

Just then, Ginny cleared her throat uncertainly, and replied in a heavy voice, "Ron – Dumbledore's dead." and my heart felt as though it had stopped beating.

"No!" This was from Remus. I turned to look at him and saw that his face was contorted with agony and a painful denial. When Harry did not contradict Ginny however, he collapsed into a chair beside Bill's bed, and let his head fall heavily into his hands. I had never seen the usually calm and collected Remus so out of control or in such emotional pain, not even after Sirius' death, and in my heart of hearts I knew why Dumbledore's death had had a much greater impact upon him. Dumbledore had been his mentor and, for lack of a better word, his idol. He had been the one person (apart from Remus' few school friends) who had accepted him, knowing full well what he was and what he was capable of. As a child he had given him a place at Hogwarts, something that no other headmaster would have done, and as an adult he had provided him with employment as a teacher there, when no one else would employ him. Remus had looked up to Dumbledore, admired him and tried his hardest to emulate him, always accepting those who were outcasts like himself, just as Dumbledore had done for him. I knew that Dumbledore had been very influential in shaping Remus into the kind, compassionate wizard he was today, even if he himself had been unaware of it. And now he was gone and Remus was alone in the world. No, not alone, I thought to myself. Never alone. He's got me, whether he wants me or not, and I'm not going anywhere.

I realised that nobody else had said anything yet, as they were all staring transfixed at Remus, and so in order to draw the attention from him, I turned to Harry and whispered, "How did he die? How did it happen?" I whispered because speaking in a normal voice at such a time would seem almost sacrilegious.

And so Harry launched into the truly horrifying account of betrayal that was the story of Dumbledore's death. We all listened in shocked silence, occasionally interjecting some remark or asking for clarification. None of us could believe at first that Snape, Snape, fellow member of the Order and Hogwarts teacher, could have done this. I mean sure, he was a slimy git, but kill Dumbledore?? And yet, it had to be true. Harry wasn't lying – I could see that by the pain in his eyes and flinched away instinctively from looking in them for too long. My next thought was, but Dumbledore trusted him, didn't he? Who could deceive Dumbledore?

Abruptly Harry stopped talking and in the silence that followed I heard the most haunting, beautiful melody that I had ever heard. Although I had never heard such a sound before, I knew what it was, having read about it in books. It was the lament of the phoenix for its lost. As I heard it, memories of Dumbledore, good memories, rose up from my heart into my mind and I smiled softly, feeling my grief a little eased as I felt again the feelings that I had always felt when I was with him – comfort, admiration, respect, safeness. It was almost as if Dumbledore himself was whispering in my ear, "All will be well in the end. Never fear." And I believed him. Or it. Coming out of my reverie, I looked around the room at the others and saw that the phoenix's song seemed to have had a similar effect on them as well. Whilst the grief and the weariness and strain of battle were still evident in their faces, it was noticeably less so, as though somehow the phoenix had lanced the suppurating wound. I had heard of phoenixes having healing powers before, but I never thought that they would have the power to heal the heart.

As I was thinking this, the door to the hospital wing opened again and Professor McGonagall entered, looking worn out and tired like the rest of us. "Molly and Arthur are on their way," she said and everyone roused themselves from their trances to look at her. McGonagall turned to Harry and asked him about Dumbledore and Harry repeated what he had already told us. McGonagall seemed to have the same trouble coming to terms with it that the rest of us had had. Remus suggested rather bitterly that Snape was a brilliant Occlumens and perhaps that was the way he had deceived Dumbledore, but no, I thought, that doesn't sound right. Dumbledore was an excellent Legilimens – Snape wouldn't be able to keep something like that from him surely?

I decided to voice this, saying (still in a whisper), "But Dumbledore swore he was on our side! I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't…" trailing off as I wondered what Dumbledore could possibly have known that would have made him trust the man who would eventually kill him. The others seemed to be wondering this too, and I continued, "I'd love to know what Snape told him to convince him."

Harry muttered something about Snape being the one who gave Voldemort the information that made him hunt down James and Lily and that he had convinced Dumbledore of his trustworthiness by apologising for it. Nobody believed that Dumbledore could have been so naive, least of all Remus who had personally witnessed Snape's utter loathing for James when they had been at school together. I stood in silent shock, trying to digest this information, whilst the others carried on discussing it. After a few minutes of this, Harry asked us to tell him what had happened whilst he and Dumbledore were gone and each of us chipped in with our own perspectives of the previous night's events, as Harry occasionally interjected, filling us in on the things that we had missed.

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As our accounts drew to a close, we all fell silent, letting things sink in. None of us felt like talking anymore after having just relived the fear and stress of the recent battle and everyone looked contemplative as well as emotionally and physically drained. Just then the doors of the hospital wing swung open with a loud 'bang' and we all jumped, turning to see Arthur and Molly coming through the door, their faces pale and scared, with Bill's beautiful half-Veela fiancée Fleur Delacour following closely behind.

They went running up to Bill's bedside and Remus and I moved hastily so that they could get closer to the bed. Molly bent over the bed with tears in her eyes and gently pressed her lips to Bill's bloody forehead, whilst Arthur drilled McGonagall with questions regarding Bill and Dumbledore. Molly did not appear to be paying much attention to any of this because she soon started to sob, saying, "Of course, it doesn't really matter how he looks…it's not r-really important…but he was a very handsome little b-boy…always very handsome…and he was g-going to be married!"

My heart twisted with grief for her and then to my surprise I heard Fleur interject loudly that she still wanted to marry Bill – there was no "was going to be married" about it. Fleur insisted that she didn't care that Bill had been bitten by a werewolf and that he was now horribly disfigured and might even have other side effects which we were yet to learn about; no, those things didn't matter – she loved him and she wanted to marry him and that was that. He was still Bill after all. And as I watched the beautiful girl fight for the right to still marry Bill after all that had happened to him, something within me snapped. Why was she allowed to fight for the man she loved and I wasn't? How was Remus any different from Bill? Both had been bitten by werewolves, both were good wizards, good men. And why did Bill and Fleur deserve happiness and love, but not Remus and I? I couldn't take it anymore, and so I turned to Remus, not caring that there were other people in the room, not caring that now was hardly the time and the place, not even caring that Dumbledore had just died and we were in a hospital wing, for crying out loud and beside someone's sick bed, and in a strained voice full of the desperation I felt, I glared at the werewolf I loved, and cried "You see! She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"

Remus automatically stiffened as he always did when I brought up this subject and refused to meet my eyes. His lips hardly moved as he tried to reply as quietly as possible, obviously hoping that the others wouldn't hear him – a futile hope, if you ask me, as they were all listening in very carefully, having been surprised and intrigued by my sudden outburst. "It's different," he said, "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely-"

No. No, I was not going to have my chance at happiness thrown away on a mere technicality. Because that was all it was. Honestly. Could he be more ridiculous?? And so I cut him off angrily, grabbing the front of his robes and forcing him to meet my eyes, shaking him violently and frustratedly as I did so. "But I don't care either, I don't care!" I cried, wanting to drum it into that stubborn head of his so that he couldn't argue. He mustn't argue. "I've told you a million times…"

"And I've told you a million times," he cut me off, looking away from my eyes to stare at the floor, "that I am too old for you, too poor…too dangerous…" I vaguely heard Arthur stand up for me, telling Remus that he was being ridiculous. Yes, he was being ridiculous. Does he think I don't already know these things? I don't want someone young or rich or safe. Safeness is overrated. I want Remus; Remus John Lupin, werewolf, wizard and wonderful man and no one, but no one else.

But he still didn't get it. "I am not being ridiculous," he continued, "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."

And then Arthur said it, the words which summed up everything I had ever felt for Remus and which, with Bill lying bleeding and maimed less than two feet away, had a much greater impact than they would ever have done if they had been uttered by someone else under different circumstances. "But she wants you. And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so." And he gestured to Bill lying there unconscious.

Remus could not find an answer to these words – who could? And instead he mumbled something about this not being the time or place for such a conversation, what with Dumbledore recently dead and all, which McGonagall rightly brushed aside as the weak excuse that it was.

However, looking at him, I could see that that last comment of Arthur's had got through his defences; that whilst outwardly he was still resisting, inwardly the wall he had erected was starting to crumble, and I knew with a fierce joy in my heart that he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

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As the sun was rising, we all (apart from the students and McGonagall) went back to the Weasleys' for breakfast. Molly insisted that we come over as she said that cooking for a large number of people helped to keep her mind off things. Fred and George were there too and she cooked up a storm – hot, creamy porridge, piles of bacon and eggs, hot buttered toast and large mugs of tea. We all realised very suddenly how hungry we were after the long night and tucked in with great enthusiasm, temporarily forgetting everything except the wonderful taste and smell of the food on the large wooden table and the hungry growling of our stomachs. Afterwards, too tired to do anything else, we collapsed in utter exhaustion (both physical and emotional) on various spare beds (there being quite a few with most of the Weasley children being at work or at school) and slept the rest of the day away.

I awoke around 5.00 in the afternoon and feeling refreshed and unable to go back to sleep again, I made my way down the stairs from Ginny's room where I had been sleeping to the kitchen. It appeared that everyone else was still asleep so I made my way out into the garden which I had always loved, mainly for its wildness and funny little gnomes, and sat down on a rickety old bench beneath a spreading oak tree. I sat there for a while, simply enjoying the quiet around me, listening to the birds chirping as they prepared for the night, and watching the gnomes fossicking around in the flowerbeds. The sun was already starting to set, spreading crimson and orange feathers across the darkening sky, when I felt someone sit beside me. I had been so absorbed in my thoughts and in simply drinking in the nature around me that I hadn't heard the approaching footsteps and turning, I saw Remus sitting next to me, gazing up at the last glowing embers of the dying sun.

We sat like that for a while, simply watching the sun go down in a surprisingly companionable silence, enjoying the undisturbed moment together. As the last rays disappeared and night started to fall in earnest, the stars twinkling between the branches of the trees, Remus turned at last to look at me. He didn't say anything, just looked at me, as if trying to read something in my face. I looked back at him, willing him to see all the love that I felt for him written thereon. Finally he spoke, in a soft voice filled with some emotion that I had never heard there before.

"'Dora, I…I can't keep you away any longer. I love you. I have loved for you so long and I can't lie to myself anymore. I need you 'Dora. You are my other half, the better half I might add, and I am so lonely without you. Seeing Bill like that….made me realise…that we must take happiness when it holds out its hand to us, take it whole-heartedly and enjoy it while it lasts. I've missed you these past few months. I tried to deny it to myself, but I have. I've missed you terribly – your laugh, your smile, your amusing conversation, your good heart and even your clumsiness, 'Dora! You bring brightness to my dark life that hasn't been there before. You make it seem less dark, more bearable. Mine has been a very lonely existence and I had accepted that as par for the course, but then you came and you shook me to the core. Suddenly I was faced with the possibility of happiness, of companionship, of sharing my life with someone. And I admit, I was afraid. I had never expected this and I didn't know what to do with it, what to do with you. And so I ran away. I told myself that I was being selfless, that it was for the best, that I was doing it for you. But I lied to myself. And when I saw how miserable you were, 'Dora, and realised that it wasn't for your best at all, and that it was all my fault, that I was ruining you, and yet still persisted in lying to myself that it was for your own good and that you would get over me…..'Dora I don't know if any of this is making sense, but all I can say is please forgive me? And….I don't really have the right to ask this anymore but I can't help myself…..'Dora, will you marry me? Will you be my better half for as long as we both shall live?"

For a full minute I couldn't speak. My heart was swelling within my chest with joy and I felt like pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Eventually though, I managed to get my muscles to obey my commands and opening my mouth, I blurted "YES!" Never one to do things by half measures, I shifted closer to him on the bench and flinging my arms around his neck, I whispered in his ear, "The answer has always been 'yes', Remus, if you had only realised it." Then pulling back slightly, I gazed into his eyes filled with elation, surprise and love and then, without a second thought, I leaned closer and kissed him.

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"Do you, Remus John Lupin, take Nymphadora Andromeda Tonks to be your lawfully wedded wife…."

"I do."

My heart leapt as I heard him promise himself to me forevermore in a calm, sure voice. Our wedding was a small affair with only our closest friends and family there – no fuss and frills, just simple and sweet. As I think I have mentioned before, I have never been romantic and I had never wanted a big fussy wedding with loads of flowers and a flouncy white dress. In fact, I had never really thought about what kind of wedding I would want, but if I had, this would be it. No stress, no unnecessary expense, no irrelevant details. Just him and me. That's it. That's what I wanted.

That was all I would ever want.

A/N: So…there you have it! Only one more chapter to go! Love it? Hate it? Questions? Comments? Did it live up to your expectations?? REVIEW!!!