Thank you to a friend (Lycra) for the text on novelty mugs and the underwear image prompt for this chapter.
Again see the bottom for accompanying art.

Tonks job was full time, all year. Kingsley had introduced mandatory leave for Aurors, as well as their set optional amount of leave. His reasoning being that they would otherwise 'never unglue themselves from their desks. Learn some work delegation, people!'. The mandatory leave periods never overlapped with anyone else's and were set at the beginning of each year. Tonks leave was positioned a week before the start of Hogwarts new year.

She had enjoyed coming back to their home and seeing Teddy conked out asleep in his playpen, and her husband either making dinner or reading. Having him at home all the time was a treat she looked forward to all day. It also spared the kitchen the disastrous consequences of her cooking.

Sometimes, Remus really did wonder how on Earth, Dora and himself managed to co-exist so well. Becoming friends had happened so quickly and so effortlessly that he barely noticed the transition from 'stranger' to 'trusted friend'. Their relationship developing from platonic to romantic had seemed natural at the time, if fraught with difficulties. Now, they were married and she did not care about his condition; she was more than he had ever hoped for. Yet, he'd always imagined, if he ever did find someone, they would be similar to himself; quiet, reserved, but with a sense of humour. Tonks was quirky, loud, and energetic, but she did have an extremely broad sense of humour. Which was mostly puns that made her giggle like a five year old, and often bordered onto inappropriate. Not that she cared. She was also completely unashamed of what he was, often combining this with her humour.

There were three memorable instances, of said combination, that all occurred within just over a month. The first occurred a few weeks before Remus was due back at Hogwarts.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Monday 2nd, August 1999

Coming downstairs with a snoozing Teddy resting against his shoulder Remus noticed a box on the kitchen table along with a note.

He made a detour to the living room, popping Teddy onto the sofa where he rolled over into his preferred nest of cushions.

Walking back into the kitchen to make them both porridge Remus picked up the box and read the note:

Beloved husband,

Sorry! I had to run out early, remembered late last night I had another case assigned to me.
I should be back for dinner but if I'm not don't wait up for me I'll reheat one of the meals in the fridge.

I decided to get this for you the other day when I saw it during my lunch break - you should totally take it to classes!
I promise I haven't forgotten our Anniversary tomorrow though.

Love, your awesome wife

"Looks like its just me and you today puppy," Remus called into the living room, getting no reply in return, as he put the kettle on. He'd already gotten Tonks something for tomorrow, but he was still a little worried she may not like it. Even though it had the seal of approval from Harry, Hermione, and Kingsley.

He turned his attention back to the box that was wrapped in bright red paper. He smiled to himself at Tonks' eternal love for anything brightly coloured. It also made no sense that she was attracted to him, who had never worn anything brightly coloured in his life - occasionally delving into light blue apparently didn't count.

Sitting at the kitchen table he unwrapped the box, keeping an ear out in case Teddy decided to wake from his impromptu nap. The box was about the length of his hand and just about as wide, he also had no idea as to what could be inside. Bought it during lunch break? So, from a London street shop he assumed.

"This could be anything," he muttered, popping open the cardboard tag at the one end to take out something wrapped in bubble-wrap. Whatever he had guessed, it was not this.

Taking away the bubble wrap, with a mental note to let Teddy play with it later, he looked at the bright red mug, now understanding the colour choice in wrapping paper. Smiling at Tonks thoughtfulness to get him a new mug, he placed it on the table in front of him before getting up to retrieve the now boiling kettle and a tea bag. He turned to make his morning cup of tea with the new mug and nearly dropped the kettle onto the unforgiving floor.

On the other side of the mug in white text were the words: Absolute ANIMAL In Bed.

Remus despaired silently, sinking back into his chair and draping himself over the kitchen table. He would most certainly not be taking that to class with him.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Tuesday 31st, August 1999

The second memorable incident happened while Remus was packing his trunk for Hogwarts, hindered slightly by Teddy sitting on his shoulders and clinging to his head.

"I can't believe you, Mr. Organised Mind. Still packing?" Tonks said in mock astonishment, "we leave tomorrow you know."

"Yes, yes," Remus answered distracted, turning quickly to lean over their bed and grab the next item to be packed. Teddy squealed in delight as he was swung round. "But I, unlike you, only need a couple of hours to pack everything I need. So, I can leave it to the last day."

Tonks considered him for a while, coming to sit by his open trunk. She watched her husband dart about the room like an overgrown hummingbird, and their year and half old offspring held on joyfully. It was no secret her mind was as collected as a butterfly, and was prone to forgot the odd item, but Remus seemed to end up packing them anyway. She didn't know how he did it.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to take some clothes that wouldn't act as excellent camouflage in old sepia photograph you know," she said, pointing at the coffee coloured jacket Remus was folding carefully.

"I don't do colours," he said, flapping a free hand at her. She decided not to voice her lewd comment that he was happy to do her. Tonks grinned instead.

"I still say you need a shirt that says 'Professor on the streets, Monster in the sheets'," she said cheerily, getting up from the bed.

Remus looked at his wife in panic, giving her his full attention, as she made for the door, "Dora, please no."

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Thursday 9th, September 1999

The third and final time was when Tonks tried to surprise Remus on the first new moon of the new term. She'd told him to get undressed and settle himself in bed. That automatically gave her game away in Remus' opinion, but he wasn't going to complain.

He'd just drifted off into a rather nice day dream about what she had planned, when she stuck her head around the door from the bathroom.

"Ready?" She looked excited, so he nodded, smiling gently at her.

That is until she fully came out of the bathroom and he saw what she was wearing. Nothing but a pair of frilly knickers. Frilly knickers with a wolf face on them. He burst out laughing.

"Hey!" Tonks fumed, stomping over to him and straddling his waist over the blankets trying to get him to stop, "I thought they were cute. There's a racoon and a fox one too, but I figured these were more relevant- stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry!" Remus was struggling to regain his breath as he fell into another fit of giggles, "but, that wasn't- I didn't think- WOLF KNICKERS!"

He slipped down the bed, with Dora now sitting on his knees rather put out, as he continued to laugh into near screeching. He eventually managed to calm himself down into small intermittent chuckles, and caught sight of Dora's now slightly dejected face.

"Oh, Dora," reaching a hand up he held the side of her face and gazed up at her smiling delightedly as she looked back at him, hopeful again. "If you wanted a wolf," he flipped their positions and now he had her pinned underneath him, "I'll give you one."

This seemed to please her greatly.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Once upon a time, Remus couldn't stand anything that associated him with wolves. He would purposefully create a non-corporeal patronus, just to avoid having to look at the pearly white wolf he produced. One time, he sent a patronus and the sight of it caused such revulsion that the wispy figured immediately died.

Now, he was watching his wife playfully snarl and mock tackle with their year old son on his office floor. Teddy, in return, would brandish the bedraggled wolf toy in his tiny fist at her. He sneezed and his face morphed into a small puppy nose and floppy blue ears. He beamed and giggled, revealing tiny little fangs. Tonks mirrored him and perky, violet furred ears appeared on her head.

He remembered all the instances that she had used wolf puns, all the times she tried to bring out his more wolfish tendencies that he firmly kept under lock and key. She wasn't ashamed to talk about it, didn't try to hide it. If anyone at work mentioned it to her, or even mocked her for her choice in husband, she would laugh and tell them they didn't know what they were missing.

It struck him hard. She was proud to be his wife.

He was so stunned that he dropped the book in his hands onto the floor, causing Teddy to startle. Tonks gathered the now white haired - or furred - Teddy into her arms as she shuffled over to him. Remus was still staring at the opposite wall.

"Remus, what's wrong?"

He turned to stare at her, eyes flickering from her ears to Teddy's face, who was wiggling his nose experimentally.

"You … you really don't care do you?" He whispered.

"Oh, Remus, I'm sorry," Tonks sounded a little panicked, and very guilty, quickly morphing her ears away, and trying to flatten Teddy's. "I know you don't like to remind yourself, and I keep doing this, or bringing it up... gosh I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You're proud of me."

There was silence, in which Tonks hands fell away from Teddy's head, allowing his ears to bounce back up, now back to their bright blue colour.

"Are you kidding me!?" her voice slightly strained, she placed their son on the floor and grabbed her completely dense husband by the shoulders. "Really? It's taken you this long to figure that out? Sirius said you were the intelligent one!"

Tonks' tirade carried on but Remus wasn't really paying attention anymore, suddenly filled with uncontainable joy. To find someone who loved him unconditionally, eternally, was more than he had ever dare dream of, but to be proud of him. So proud that she didn't want to sweep his condition under the rug, wanted people to know how much she loved him, including the wolf part of him.

She was half way through an explanation of how exactly she could get through his thick head, when he kissed her, thoroughly.

Merlin, he was happy.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

"I've been thinking," Remus started one night, rolling over to face his wife in bed.

"Careful," Tonks quipped, without opening her eyes so she couldn't see Remus less than impressed expression.

"Shush. I've been thinking, and I think it's time we try introducing you to the wolf on Wolfsbane."

Tonks propped herself immediately to look at her husband, who was gazing right back at her. He looked apprehensive, and she knew how much this meant to him. Of course, she had wanted to be there for him during transformations for a long time, but he had dissuaded her. She had eventually dropped it and left it to him to offer in his own time, content with the knowledge that he at least let her take care of him after the moon had gone down. So, she knew what was at stake here.

"I think," she said, brushing his fringe away from his face, "that's a wonderful idea."

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Saturday 25th, September 1999

"Ok, just to reiterate; I go down into the basement first, you wait for at least twenty minutes. That'll give me enough time for the transformation to be over and to settle. Then, if everything is ok I'll scratch on the stairs to signal you coming down. If I haven't scratched the stairs by thirty minutes past, you charm the trap door shut and place a shield charm around it. I don't think the wolf can work out a drop down ladder but lets not test it. Dora? Dora are you listening?"

"Yes, Remus," Tonks sighed, "just as I listened to you the last five times you told me of the plan. I get it, wolf goes rawr, wolf scary, barricade the fort." She reached forward to hold his face in her hands, "Auror remember? I know what to do, I'm not taking this lightly. Trust me."

Remus took a big breath, and let it out again slowly, willing himself to calm down. But with just under an hour to go before the final change, anxiety was at an all time high. "I do trust you, it's going to be fine. It will be fine."

"That's the spirit."

Too soon, Tonks was watching Remus descend into the basement and out of sight. They had returned to their cottage for this first experiment, as it had the ideal place for his transformations. The trap door was in a strange small room, bigger than the average broom cupboard, but only had room for the trap door itself, perhaps four squished people, and five shelves full of books and pre-made potions. Underneath was a roomy basement that had yet more shelves - 'is the wolf literate, Remus?' - a double bed, and eternal balls of flame hugging the walls. It was an improvement, headed by Tonks, to the previously dreary room Remus had used. The trap door closed after him, and she waited.

Twenty five minutes later and Tonks was starting to allow a few bursts of panic affect her. He hadn't scratched yet, but surely the Wolfsbane was fine?

While at Hogwarts, Remus acquired his doses from Slughorn, but they figured it would become a problem once everyone went home. Tonks had been trying to perfect the potion herself in her spare time, however limited it was. Unfortunately, she had yet to have her work checked by a licensed Potioneer. Their saviour appeared one day in June in the form of Hermione Granger, tireless defender of those without rights. She had already been given the seal of approval for her brewing capabilities on the Wolfsbane Potion, and handed them a box containing seven vials for each day of that week. She then proceeded to make them speechless as she explained her collaboration with the Weasley Twins.

According to her, the Twins were still trying to think of ways in which to honour the creators of one of the greatest mischief tools that they had ever owned. Especially Remus. So, when Ron came to visit them he naturally couldn't stop boasting how his wife was now a licensed brewer of Wolfsbane, a notoriously difficult potion to get right. The Twins had an immediate brainwave. What was once a spin-off joke section, their range of Defence Against the Dark Arts products had expanded into a practical side-business. One that now included the Anonymous Wolfsbane Delivery service. Working in tandem with Hermione, with connections in the Ministry to procure the necessary ingredients, werewolves could now apply for free Wolfsbane. Since making the potion in bulk was much easier and more cost effective than brewing for individual use, Hermione could make a batch once a month at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Then they just needed to bottle up each dose, package, and have someone deliver it. All a werewolf needed to do was leave a delivery address point with either of the Weasleys, and they would find the box waiting for them the week before the full moon. Hermione's argument for this service to remain unimpeded was that with Wolfsbane being far more accessible to the intended target, there would be fewer attacks, and therefore less need for it in the future.

Those boys had never failed Remus yet, and Tonks couldn't believe they had now. Just as she was about to set up the required charms around the trap door, feeling extremely disappointed and worried, she heard the faint scratching sounds of claws trying to dig, and scraping across stone.

Sighing in relief, but still not letting her guard down, she opened the trap door and descended down, careful to close it behind her. If Remus was still feral, better to have her bar his path, than chance him escaping out through an open door. Teddy may not be in the house, no doubt being spoilt rotten by Harry, but it wasn't that far to the nearest town.

Tonks needn't have worried however, coming to the bottom of the stairs. She immediately spotted Remus, in his all four pawed, fuzzy glory, lying on his back watching a moth flutter about the nearest flame ball.

Her feet tapping on the stone floor alerted Remus to her presence as he tilted his head back to look at her. He saw her trying to hold in her smug grin, tilting his head and wagging his tail slowly. He looked ridiculous.

"Yeah, you're really terrifying, Remus."

The huff and unimpressed expression on his muzzled face brought her to her knees.

This chapters fan-art can be find at my blog under the Remadora or Novelty Mug tags.
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