Anything recognizable is not mine. This chapter kind of got away from me. Hope you enjoy it. :D
"So."
"So."
"I always knew there was something else going on out there, I just didn't…"
"Think that there were a bunch of men and women running around waving sticks and shouting weird incantations?" Remus supplied in a low voice.
Dana leaned closer and quirked a brow. "Yeah. I mean it's not like I didn't think it was possible, I've heard crazier things."
He snorted in suppressed mirth. Only Dana would think there was crazier things than learning that not only was her boyfriend a wizard, but that her friend was also one.
"You weren't shocked at all then?" he asked curiously.
"No." she paused, "It certainly explains your poor taste in music. Do you think I'm making a mistake?"
The abrupt change in topic didn't even faze him any more. "Do you think you've made a mistake?" he asked instead of answering.
She shook her head immediately. "No. I really love Mark, although my mum thinks I've jumped into it. She still has aspirations of hooking me up with the lawyer down the street from her. She doesn't think I know Mark well enough, but really it's been almost a year since we first met. Of course he wasn't completely honest with me for most of that time, but really I can't blame him, I suppose." She said blithely as she finished her coffee. They were at her usual spot and this was her second cup.
"How long were you with Dora before you asked her to marry you?" again she changed topic without any segue.
"About five years."
She raised a brow. "Really?"
"You find that hard to believe?" he inquired, also finishing his beverage.
"You just don't seem the type to make a girl wait that long."
Remus sighed. "It's complicated."
Dana flashed a bright smile. "All good things are. I notice you say it is complicated, not that it was."
Remus studied the table for a few moments, considering. Dana was a Muggle. She had not grown up with the fear and paranoia that surrounded what he was. To her Werewolves were fictionalized creatures that sprouted fur, walked up right every full moon and could be taken out with a silver bullet. And yet she had accepted the fact that the man she was about to marry posses magical powers and works as a dark wizard catcher without batting an eye. And she was his friend. He had trusted his friends before; perhaps he could do so again.
"Lets walk." He suggested and she stood to follow him pulling on her long purple coat and scarf without comment.
"You understand everything that Mark told you, yes?" he questioned after they had been walking for a bit.
She nodded and extracted a cigarette from her purse.
"Well, just as there are witches and wizards, there are also other magical beings."
"What, like goblins and the like?"
He nodded. "Right. And elves, although they're nothing like Muggles think they are, and centaurs and so on." He paused to make sure she was listening and then continued. "Then there is what we call 'Dark creatures.'"
They were now stopped at a street crossing and she peered at him through her fringe of dark hair. "Dark creatures?" she sounded intrigued. "Let me guess, Vampires and werewolves are real too."
" Among other things, Yes," he said and something in his voice made her glance sharply at him as they crossed the street.
"These people are not widely accepted in wizarding society." He continued. "If there is a hierarchy, and believe me there most definitely is no matter what anyone says, than they are on the bottom. Vampires keep mostly to themselves, they prefer to travel and live mostly in countries like Romania where they are not as ostracized."
They had reached the park and they now sat on a bench. He waited for a woman walking a poodle to walk by before he continued.
"What about the Werewolves?" she asked before he could start up again. "What do they do?"
Remus shoved his hands deep into his pockets and leaned back on the bench. How did he phrase this?
"Werewolves are reviled as being malicious. In wizarding society if you are bitten and contract lycanthropy, it is expected that you leave your family, if you have one, for their own good. We cannot be controlled as wolves and so the ministry tries to control our lives. We are not allowed to marry, unless we have already been married before being bitten. Having children is frowned upon; there isn't really any law that says we can't, although until a few years ago there was. While there is no law that says that a werewolf cannot live in ordinary wizarding society, we are shunned and anyone who is associated with us is as well. Most of us live on the margins of society and end up dying before we reach fifty."
He stopped then and waited for her reaction. Dana was a very smart girl; he knew she would pick up on his change of address from they to we. While he was letting her think he watched the people milling about the park.
"That's horrible." She said after a time. "But what dose that have to do…?"
He watched her carefully now as her eyes widened for a moment and then he nodded at the questioning look she gave him.
"No," she gasped, not in horror or dismay, but simply in the way people do when they are surprised. "Really?"
"Yes."
Dana sighed and pulled out another cigarette, although she didn't light it. "Well, I must say I didn't see that coming." She smiled slightly and nudged his shoulder with hers. "So is the silver bullet thing really real?"
Remus found he couldn't help but laugh. He had had this conversation three times before, in varying degrees of difference. James, Sirius and Peter had confronted him, as had Dora. Their reactions had been similar. Lily had never asked him, she simply told him one day that she knew, and when and if he ever wanted to talk about it she would be there. Of all the reactions, Dana's was by far the strangest and yet he hadn't really expected anything less. What was more, he knew it was genuine. Dana did not put up pretenses. What you saw was what you got.
"No, the silver is a myth. I have never suffered from any prolonged exposure to it, and I've been at this for a long time."
"How long is a long time?" she was playing with her lighter, but her eyes were still on him.
"Almost twenty years," he said without hesitation.
"Shit."
His usual half smile greeted her pronouncement. "My thoughts exactly."
"So. If people like you aren't allowed to get married, than how did you swing it?"
"We found a way to get around the law. Technically, at least in the eyes of the ministry, we are not married. In fact very few people know we are. No one with whom Dora works, aside from the Auror who trained her and now Mark, know that she's even married. And Mark doesn't know that I'm a werewolf. Dora could loose her job if anyone found out." He hoped he got the message across without offending her.
"So don't tell him. I get it, and I won't, I promise. That's yours and Dora's business, not mine." She gave him a level look. "And that's exactly what I'll tell him if he ever finds out I know."
"Thank you. I don't usually tell people, but of course it's becoming harder now, trying to find a job. I'm going to have to start looking in the Muggle papers again."
She snapped her fingers suddenly. "I'm an idiot. I was supposed to ask you days ago." She smiled brightly at his bemused look. "My brother, Antony, he's got two girls, I think I told you? Nancy and Leona. Anyways, Ant wants someone to tutor Leona. She's failing her English class horribly. He wanted me to do it, said since I had worked in a bookstore, I should know about literature and stuff. Which is a ridiculous assumption on his part. Just because I like to read it doesn't mean I get the symbolism and whatever. " She was speaking really quickly and it was all he could do to keep up.
"So, I told him that I had a friend who did understand all that and who was currently looking for a job and who was really good with kids. Although she is 14, so I guess she's more of a teenager, but I'm sure you'd be fine. That is if you decided to do it."
It took him a moment to unravel all that she had said and then he asked quietly, "After what I just told you, you'd still want me around your niece?"
"Course. You're crazy you know that? It's not like you've attacked me or anything, although now I get why you would suddenly look like you were suffering from some kind of withdrawal. At one point I even thought you might have a habit, but I figured, well that's his business and it never affected your work. So you'll do it?"
He didn't really need to think about it. He had not been working since November and it had driven him crazy having nothing to do.
"I'll do it."
She beamed. "I knew you would. So, anything else I need to know about this world of yours? Mark said he didn't want to throw too much at me at once. You said Muggle, that's someone like me right?"
"Someone non magical," he clarified, thinking that this conversation had become somewhat of a whirlwind.
"So, I'm a Muggle." She tried the word out and then shrugged. "So to be a wizard or a witch you have to be born one, it's not like in those books where the people learn it."
"We do learn how to use magic yes, but you do have to be born with the ability though. Some Muggles are." He paused. "My mother was."
"Hmm. I think I'll keep you around for a while Remus, if only so someone can help me understand all this. I love Mark but he is short on patience."
"Anything to help." He replied dryly. ++++
"This is going to scar." Mark fingered the bridge of his nose.
Tonks didn't look up from the paper work she was filling out. A slight smile touched her lips though, but she refrained from either smiling out right or laughing.
"Should've gone to get it checked out. They have ointment that makes it heal faster." She finished writing and threw her quill down and then sent the report on its way.
He scowled. "So says the woman who can just wrinkle her nose and have every blemish disappear."
She shrugged as she put her cloak on. "Some of us are just born lucky I guess." She studied the cut over his nose, courtesy of a disgruntled shopkeeper in Diagon, which had now just stopped bleeding. It was definitely going to scar.
"It's not so bad. Eventually it'll fade. But I'd get some of that ointment so it'll heal faster." She grinned as she shouldered past him. " Don't want your future mother in law lamenting you any further."
Mark swore as she walked away and Kingsley, who was walking by on the way to his own cubicle, greeted him "Evening Hawksley. Nice cut you've got there. You trying to give Mad Eye a run for his money?"
Tonks laughed as he swore again and exited the Auror offices. "Hold the lift!" she ran for it as the golden grills started to close and a hand stuck out barring their progress.
"Thanks," she panted as she entered the lift and leaned against the wall. The man, who had red hair and glasses, simply smiled at her. "It was no trouble." She returned the smile and they rode in silence.
"Good night," she called over her shoulder as she veered towards the floo's and he headed toward the apparation point. He returned the greeting just as she was stepping in and then she was gone, whirling for a moment before she was deposited on her parents carpet, having fallen over as she lurched to exit the floo.
"Good evening darling." Andromeda greeted, unconcerned. "It's just us for dinner, your father is feeling a bit under the weather." She glanced around then, looking slightly puzzled. "Didn't you bring Remus with you?"
Tonks pulled her self upright and brushed off some soot. "He'll be here. Would you like some help?" she followed her mother out of the room, stopping briefly to hang up her cloak.
"Well, if you really feel you must. You may wash those dishes while I finish with the potatoes."
Tonks did so, shucking her Auror robes.
"Your father seems to have caught a bit of a cold. I gave him some pepper up potion but he says his stomach still feels unsettled." Andromeda peeled a potato with an expert flick of her wand that Tonks couldn't help but envy. The last time she had tried that she'd sent the potato flying, almost hitting Remus, who had luckily ducked, and through the kitchen window. Despite her mortification, it had been cause for a good laugh.
"Hopefully he feels better soon," she commented, scrubbing at a plate. She didn't want to chance breaking them by using magic.
"So, what's new in your life? It feels like ages since I last saw you."
It was a slight admonishment, but Tonks didn't let it bother her. "Remus got a job, tutoring."
"Really? Is he enjoying it?" Andromeda placed the now precisely sliced potatoes into the oven and wiped her hands on a tea towel, then turned to face her daughter.
"Yes." She dried a large mixing bowl and set it carefully aside.
"Well, you must be glad," Her mother commented, stacking three plates and the requisite utensils to set the table.
"Uhmm." Glad didn't cover it. Remus had been going crazy with nothing to do and it had started affecting her too, to the point where they had recently started to get into small arguments, more so than they usually would.
"Do you remember Eliza Kent?" Andromeda questioned as Tonks dried her last dish.
"The girl who lived next door. Yeah, why?" She followed her into the dining room and helped her set the table.
"She just had a baby. Her mother practically pounced on me to tell me the news as I was coming home today."
Tonks sighed and prayed this was not going where she thought it was. "That's nice," she said brightly. "Do you need me to bring anything else out?"
Andromeda straightened a fork that her daughter had juts finished placing. "No, not yet. Yes, she called the poor child Richmond of all things."
Tonks resisted the urge to snort in derision. "You think that's bad? She could have been like you and saddled him with a name like Perseus or something equally as likely to incur ridicule."
Andromeda raised a brow. "You have a perfectly acceptable name darling. It's unique, like you. Besides, it's family tradition. I didn't let go of everything when I married your father you know."
"Yeah well," Tonks said unthinkingly, "don't expect me to carry it on."
"Oh, were you thinking of having a baby then?" she asked casually. Of course Tonks knew it was anything but casual.
Walked right into that one, she mused as they entered the sitting room and she watched her mother settle onto the sofa.
"What? No…I mean…Merlin mum, I'm only twenty two; I think I have a bit of time." She did not want to have this conversation with her mother, when she hadn't even worked up the courage to have it with her husband.
"Of course." There was a knock at the door; cutting off the rest of anything Andromeda might have wanted to say on the subject. Not that that would stop her from bringing it up at a later date.
"That'll be Remus, I expect. I'll just go let him in." Tonks jumped to her feet and walked quickly to the front door to admit him. She would never admit it to her, but her mother had given her something to think about. She knew she wanted a child, she had known since rescuing Wallace two years ago. But the question was, did Remus want a child? She hadn't really thought of it in a while, but perhaps it was time that they talked about it. ++++
"Is something wrong?"
She looked up from the evening Prophet, which she really hadn't been reading, and gave him a confused look.
"You've been really quiet tonight," He supplied, an amused smile touching his lips.
She shrugged and folded the unread paper up, throwing it on the coffee table.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked instead of answering.
Remus nodded; he knew that something was bothering her and asking to walk just confirmed it. It seemed that most of their most serious discussions took place whilst out on a leisurely stroll.
They exited their house in silence and automatically headed toward the beach. Once there, they continued to walk in silence for a time until she finally stopped them.
Tonks peered up at him, somewhat searchingly. She didn't know exactly what to say. She could tell instinctively that this was going to be a bone of contention between them. Yet she found that she didn't care. She wanted it too badly.
"There's something I've been thinking bout for a while," she started, taking a steadying breath. "For a few years actually, but something my mum said tonight brought it back into my mind." She paused and looked away from him, out toward the water. It was choppy, filled with white caps.
"What is it you've been thinking about?" he asked, trying to encourage her to continue. He knew it was something big and the feeling that he wasn't really going to like it or at least agree pervaded his mind. Still, he wouldn't know until she finished.
She looked at him again, choosing her words carefully, "I want to, I mean not right away exactly, but I thought that we might…" she silently cursed herself for being so inarticulate. How many times had she played out what she wanted to say and now when it came to it she was a mess.
"Bugger, this isn't going at all how I wanted." She sighed deeply and looked him directly in the eyes. She saw some trepidation there already, as if he knew what was coming was going to be life changing; a pivotal moment.
"Remus, I want to have a baby."