p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"In days past, it had always been the best part of his morning, waking up to the slight weight of Tonk's arm across his chest, her palm splayed protectively over his heart. His time underground had turned the memory into nothing short of an honored and gilded legend in his thoughts, he had been so desperately lonely, he had missed the presence of her so much. /span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong id="docs-internal-guid-044cd1ff-7fff-8b30-142d-cc81ea833403" style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Upon rousing, Remus did not move or even allow himself to breathe too deeply for fear of causing the gentle weight of her to dissolve into nothingness as had happened so many times before when he would fully awake from his dream-filled sleep. He lay quietly in the half-light of a gray dawn, the thin light creeping in through the windows doing little to entice him to rise up from the delicious comfort of the shared bed. /span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He should leave, he knew, but he found he could not force his limbs into motion. The heavy skies beyond the window were thick with the promise of rain. Had the previous evening ended in the way he had initially thought it would, in the way it very well ought to have, he would have woken up in the wilderness, alone and cold and soon to be sodden. Such musings made rising no more tempting./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You stayed." Tonks' voice was whisper-soft, her tone wary but without anger. She still had not removed her hand from his chest./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Remus still did not move. "I stayed."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Remus closed his eyes briefly and slowly let out a breath. "Because I wanted to. Because I have missed you, missed this. Because sometimes I allow desire to override sense."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tonks remained just as motionless as he was. "You were supposed to go back last night…" She allowed the words to fade to silence on their own./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""There is still time, there are a few nights left yet before the full moon." He felt her head nod slightly in agreement. "I worry about you, Dora."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No need," was her whispered reply./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Remus finally moved, curling his arm to pull her closer to him and she settled even closer against his body. He gently cradled her head against his neck with his free hand, allowing the strands of her mousy brown hair to tangle with his fingers. Shutting his eyes against the thousand reasons to push her away to safety, he drew in a shuddering breath and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. "I'm not safe."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're as safe as anyone in our world can be, especially these days…I'm an auror, remember?" Her misunderstanding was intentional./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With his eyes still shut, he allowed a thin smile to ease away some of the worry and grief from his face. "That isn't what I meant. I would never forgive myself if you were hurt because of me."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You would never hurt me."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That isn't what you told me last night," he murmured before adding, "The wolf might."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She pulled her head back only enough to look up into his face, watching his eyes slowly open to gaze into her own. "I know how to brew the Wolfsbane potion. Snape may be a grumpy, greasy old git, but he is an ace with potions and I'm a quick study."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An easy silence settled around them as Remus turned his gaze back to the window. From his vantage point, he could see little more than gathering thunderheads, their depths roiling to an almost purple-black. Deep thunder rumbled ominously through the apartment and Tonks sucked in a deep breath, letting it out in a slow sigh./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Please." The word was barely more than a gentle exhalation./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyes shut in reaction to the blended pain and pleading in her voice. "I need to return for the next full moon. I cannot risk exposure as a spy among them, it would be worse than reckless."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Silence reigned for long moments with only the worsening thunder to fill the void. He felt her arms tighten almost imperceptively. "If the wolf cannot be controlled…if you suffer so much as a scratch…"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I won't."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You cannot know that."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I may be young, Remus. At least younger than you…but I'm not stupid. I /spanspan style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"am /spanspan style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"an auror. I do know how to protect myself."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I suppose," he breathed, "I suppose we can see how it goes between missions. I can't refuse to go underground, it would do so much damage."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Of course." She closed her eyes again and buried her face against his neck. "Do we have to go out today? Do you have any pressing business that needs attending to?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No," he admitted. "Do you?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She shook her head. "Will you stay?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He tightened his hold. "I will need to return underground tomorrow."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know," she murmured./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He drew in a long, slow breath and wondered what James and Sirius would say to him were they still alive. Probably that he was being a gormless prat. Thinking about it, he wondered if they wouldn't be perfectly right in their assessment. "I will stay."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Good."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"~the end/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It's been a long time coming but I thought it deserved an end./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"cheers! /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Melpomene Blue/span/p