Chapter 10 Late night shift
After an half an hour, Tonks had not stopped blabbering and it had reached a point where Lupin stopped listening. "I passed my Aurors exams. I may have struggled slightly, but I passed. If the ministry sees me as qualified candidate, I certainly want to be taken seriously!"
"Can you just…" Remus had enough and wanted to tell her to be quiet, but he was able to hold her tongue.
But Tonks was not so forgiving, "What? Go on Remus? Say what you want to say! Remember, there is nothing going on between the two us. I would hardly call us best of mates, so please, be free to say what you want to say."
"Why do you have to be so difficult?"
"I'm difficult?"
"Tonks, we wouldn't have inducted you in the order if you weren't fit for the job. So stop being so thick and anxious… and be more focused. You're head isn't in the right place. Besides how can you judge me about being insecure when you seemed to be full of it?" Lupin's words didn't come out as quite as he hoped.
He just realized he sounded like pompous git so he tried to apologize, "I didn't mean to say…"
Instead of being mature and continue with their conversation, Tonks' childishly sped up her walking so she wouldn't be side by side with him. She was a few yards ahead when she turned into the alley.
"I'm trying to talk to you!" Lupin ran after her.
"Well I'm not listening."
"See, this is why you're so difficult."
Unexpectedly, Tonks stopped so abruptly that Lupin almost ran into her. She turned around and uttered, "Can I ask you something?"
Lupin nodded.
"Why do you care?"
He didn't know what she meant by this and he couldn't help but look thunderstruck.
"I mean," Tonks elaborated "I mean you obviously care enough to want to be with me, I mean a least before the disaster night. And I know you think highly of me. I guess I am asking you, do you care about me?"
"I already said it would be unprofessional…"
Tonks interrupted, "I know what you said Remus. But I want to know how you feel about me?"
"Why does it matter?"
"I matters to me," Tonks moved closer to Lupin so that they were only inches apart, "I care about you. I can't help but think that you care about me. I want to be with you Remus."
Remus literally did not know what to say. It was as if his heart and his head were having a debate with each other.
"I just…" before Remus could say anything else a large bottle broke against his head and he fell straight to ground! His eye sight became blurred; he put his hand to the back of head and felt the blood shampooing his hair; his ears were ringing loudly.
Despite his congested hearing, he was able to make up what was happening around his surroundings. He heard certain key words like give me your money… or get off me …or keep quiet and he kept hearing the word slash. Most importantly he heard the word 'Help'!
When Lupin's vision finally cleared up, he was horror struck at what he was seeing. A muggle man was on top of Tonks and he had a knife to her face. Tonks and the man were struggling, and even though she was trying to reach for wand in her pocket, she did not really stand a chance since most of his weight was on her, making her nearly paralyzed.
Something came over Remus; it was as if another person was inside him as he thought, "Expelliarmus!" The knife flew out of the man's hand. As the man didn't really understand what was happening, Remus ran up to and pulled him off of Tonks. An immense feeling of hate came over Remus and he grabbed the man's head and began pounded it against the ground. BAM! The man's skull vibrated against the concrete ground hard. BAM! The man became sluggish and in extreme pain. BAM! The man eyes started to roll behind his head. BAM! The man body started to become more lifeless.
"Remus! Stop!" Tonks came over to him and grabbed his arms, forcing Remus to stop pounding the man's head, "Oh God, Remus please stop!"
Chapter 11 Preview: With the close encounter, will Remus finally let down his wall? Will he open himself to Tonks?
