Strangeways, Here We Come

Chocolate…

His eyelids felt like lead weights, but he managed to force them open. Sharp, blinding light assaulted his vision, adding to the pain from his excruciating headache and sore joints. Waking after a transformation was never pleasant… But it could have been worse.

If he focused his attention past the aches in his body, he could sense himself lying on his mattress, snugly tucked in underneath the blankets. Despite feeling like he had fallen off a broomstick and hit every branch of a Whomping Willow on the way down to the ground, Remus couldn't stop a smile from forming. He was, of course, thinking on the person who had helped him into bed and ensured he was warm and comfortable (and trying his best to ignore the fact that she had to see him in such a helpless state).

She would have gone to work by now, but his bleary eyesight could make out the Honeyduke's chocolate she had left on the nightstand. Even his face hurt, but still he grinned, fragmented thoughts of chocolate and Nymphadora melting together in his currently foggy mind.

He knew that when they first met she had wondered about his addiction; it wasn't surprising, since he always carried around at least one bar with him at all times. He fondly recalled her initial query about it, her tongue apparently as clumsy as the rest of her as she asked whether he knew chocolate was an aphrodisiac. She immediately flushed and furiously apologized, but he had just laughed; perhaps that was the instant he had shattered her perceptions of him as a stuffy and serious professor? He liked to think so, since chocolate seemed to play an important role in their relationship: they bonded over shared hot cocoa, they exchanged huge slabs at Christmas, she brought him some following full moons even before she had become more involved in caring for him afterwards…

He wasn't sure if chocolate was toxic to wolves, but it was to other canines – something Padfoot could testify to, having once devoured an army of Chocolate Frogs and subsequently finding himself sick as a… well, dog. That worry prevented him from ever wolfing any down while transformed, but he found it rather ironic that the very food that could possibly kill him then made him feel so much better the next morning.

A post-moon dessert was the only thing Lupin had the energy for, which Tonks quickly picked up on. She made sure he was never without his favourite remedy, and he adored her for her thoughtfulness.

Once he had teasingly told her she was even sweeter than the chocolate; she had giggled, thinking he was only flattering her. However, he had been completely truthful – after all, she constantly ate it as well, so its flavour combined with her naturally delectable taste to make her all the more irresistible to him.

Perhaps that was why his cravings to see her, to smell her, to touch and taste her, became stronger and stronger? His yearnings for chocolate had combined with his desire for the vivacious, colourful Auror and created a whole new sort of addiction – but like the other, it certainly wasn't one he was looking to break.

The wizard was then jolted from his reverie by a sudden smarting. Compelling himself to lift his arm and reach for the block Tonks had left him, he slowly snapped off a piece and let it melt in his mouth. Almost immediately he felt a soothing, warming sensation course through him… There was almost no better relief than that.

Well, except for one thing he could think of – and Remus couldn't stop his mind from drifting off once more and reminiscing about the chocolate body paint Nymphadora had discovered…

Mmm, I could sure go for a chocolate-covered Remus right about now… But reviews would be good too. ;)

Toodles,
- ish -