A/N — Sorry, guys! Looks like the copy/paste feature glitched out. Hopefully this works!
It had been weeks since she'd began pursuing him, nearly two months since her risqué evening confrontation.
She'd approached the problem systematically, adjusting variables strategically, observing his expression and body language, noting those outfits, hair styles, hair lengths, and movements that drew his attention particularly.
She couldn't accept his distance, not after so long. It had been years since they'd last spent this much time together, years since school. He'd captured her then, she'd known it all along. The dazzlingly rugged, impossibly humble prefect whose kind eyes and humble smile caught her attention as soon as she'd sat at the Gryffindor table.
He was a veteran of war, key in the capture of dozens of Voldemort's followers, by the time she'd come of age. Though she admitted it to no one, Tonks had pursued a role in the Auror's office in large part to work alongside him. He hadn't lost any of his charm, although he carried burdens she could hardly imagine. He was threadbare in appearance, kind but distant. She couldn't account for the pain in his eyes, every time they'd crossed paths.
He left the Auror's office not six months after she arrived, on the heels of a formally registered complaint regarding his condition (which had, she raged to the Director himself, never once influenced his meticulous attention and outstanding efforts). Since that day, she'd hardly seen him at all.
On the vaguest notion that he might attend this or that party, she'd dressed to the nines — heels and everything. When he did see her, he wore the same charming smile, and that same distant, pained expression.
She'd dated some, to no avail. She'd been pursued by so many, few for any reason other than her physiological talents. Those who seemed genuinely interested in her felt distinctly immature in his shadow. She'd harbored this crush for over a decade, and she wasn't about to let it go.
This summer had been the happiest of her life. The thrill of Remus' invitation, the space they shared, the sustained attention, the occasional flirtation, had stirred her to hope. If only he'd hurry up.
After making her interest explicit, she flirted incessantly. He was impossible to read, however, and it drove her mad. Just as she began to suspect that he didn't harbor feelings for her, she'd catch him watching her from across the room, or making stupid excuses to join her on an errand. He smiled when she was near, often for no apparent reason. And yet there was distance, and that same pained expression.
Just after dawn on a fine October morning, Remus Lupin was seated at the dining table, mug at his elbow, pretending to pay attention to the headlines of The Daily Prophet. Every few minutes he shifted his gaze away from the paper, glancing with weighted anticipation toward the foyer.
Just as the sun's warm light washed over the Ravenswood gardens, casting a verdant glow on the features of the room, Tonks descended the stairs at a drowsy pace, stretching wildly.
After a wide yawn, she blinked into awareness to find Remus Lupin reading comfortably.
"Good morning, Tonks."
She bit her lip, eyes narrowing with a flirtatious smile.
"Is it, Remus?" Her expression adopted a mischievous air. "I am, indeed, sincerely hoping it will be a most pleasant morning, but that is, I'm afraid, dependent on a number of variables entirely outside of my control."
She stood, watching him, with a playful smile. She was wearing a tight pair of ripped denim, a cropped tee that hung teasingly just beyond her chest, drawing his eyes fleetingly to her fit torso. Her hair was longer this morning, in a thick braid of dark brown that hung over her right shoulder. She wore no shoes, and her toes danced playfully on the tile as she teased him.
"Outside of your control, Tonks?"
Remus replied with hardly a glance away from his paper. Her brow furrowed.
"Alas. I'm afraid my concerted efforts have yielded not even the slightest hint of influence."
Remus fought a smile. "You're sure?"
At this, she stretched her arms far above her head, her fingers interlaced, and she leaned back into a dramatic stretch. Her cropped tee, already stretched into tension by her plump breasts, and nearly short enough to be a touch revealing from certain angles, shifted significantly from the effort, and for a moment the textures of her lace intimates were just visible.
Remus Lupin didn't shift even once.
She relaxed into the seat next to him. "Indeed, Remus." There was a touch of heat to her response. "I'm sure."
He set his paper aside, and met her gaze with warm affection. "I'm afraid your influence stretches further than you may wish." He hesitated, summoning the courage. "Would you walk with me, Tonks?"
She hadn't expected that. "Walk?"
He nodded. "Yes. With me. In the garden."
Whatever frustration had cast its ember glow on her features suddenly dissipated.
"I'd like that, Remus."
A moment later they were pacing the meandering paths, Tonks expression curiously set on Remus' distant gaze.
His features were cast with a gravity, in sharp juxtaposition to the vibrant life which seemed to radiate from their surroundings. Tonks' confident glide and steady, playful energy stood in sharp contrast to his deliberate pace.
"Tonks, I've been thinking a lot. About you. About your word or warning, six weeks ago." He paused, set his gaze upon her. She was anchored to him, just then, and her playful energy settled in a moment of intensity.
"I do like you, Tonks. More than a little. And it won't pass, I'm afraid."
She was beaming. "You're afraid?" She drew nearer to him. She would have giggled, if that were her style.
"I am." The gravity built in his voice, his expression. "Because, Tonks, I can't."
Suddenly her features lit with frustration. "You can't? What do you mean, you can't?"
"I'm not able, Tonks, to do what you mean to do with me. I'm not ready – I'm not sure I'll ever be ready."
"You're not–" She huffed. "What do you mean– what I mean to do with you?" There was heat to her words. "Remus, if this is some bullshit about being a werewolf, I sweat to Merlin, I'll–"
"Tonks, no. That's not it." He faltered. "I mean, yes, on the one hand I've attempted to steer clear from situations like these on account of my condition. Yet you've dismissed that concern altogether, and I'll honor your wishes. That's not what I mean."
She stopped walking, stomped her foot, and set her hands on her fists on her waist. "Tell me what you mean, Remus, right now, or I'll hex you."
He took a deep breath. "I can't have you, Tonks, and then lose you. I'm not strong enough to survive the hope of love, lost on a whim."
Her expression shifted, brow furrowing in confusion.
"Lose me? Remus, I'm an auror. I've lived my life just beyond the reach of death since I was nineteen. This coming war is no different, and it's no reason to–"
"I'm not talking about the war, Tonks."
At this, she was utterly confused.
"I'm talking about you." He turned to her, his eyes heavy. "You're – well, Tonks, you're stunningly beautiful and you're young, and you're clever and you're funny. And I'm me. And, sure, we're together for a bit and so I've caught your fancy. It's tremendous luck, for a guy like me to have your attention at all." He paused. His eyes had been set unwaveringly on hers as he confessed his affection, his expression earnest. Just now his gaze fell away. "I know who I am, Tonks, and I know I couldn't hold your attention for long. To have you - a creature so lovely, a bright light in what has been otherwise a dark night – and then to lose you. It would, I think, crush my will to fight, to live. And I can't do that."
One quarter second after he finished speaking, she threw herself full into him, her weight tumbling against his into the waist-high shrubs that lined the meandering path. Her lips had found his mid-air, and she kissed him, again and again, until their momentum carried them onto a patch of perfectly lovely foxglove. She shifted just enough to lay full upon him comfortably, and then she pressed her lips full into his again, her arms slowly wrapping around his neck as he lay in bewildered confusion.
At least three minutes later, she shifted her torso and shoulders until there were six inches between his face and hers, and she spoke the next words slowly and clearly.
"Remus Lupin, I've had a crush on you since first year. Do you remember the note you wrote to me fifteen years ago, explaining that sixth years aren't typically permitted to date twelve year olds? It's in my nightstand, and I read it sometimes and imagine what it might have been like, to be with Remus Lupin, the werewolf war hero."
She paused, and her eyes adopted a fierce energy. "If you'll have me, Remus, you won't lose me."
At this, she sat up, her thighs wrapped around his waist as he lay flat on the out her arm. She set her gaze level upon him, and reached out her arm.
He shook his head, "Tonks, you don't understand. You're…" He faded. "It's just that, I'm…"
"Give me your arm, Remus Lupin, you stupid man."
He began to shake his head. "Tonks, I'm terribly concerned you're going to regret–"
Her brow furrowed. "Remus Lupin, you give me your arm right this minute!"
Suddenly the gravity in his expression broke, and his head cocked slightly as wonder overcame his features. He held out his right arm.
She took it in hers, her gaze suddenly vulnerable.
"You are mine, and I am yours, 'til the shadows take us." A golden cord appeared just above her hand, wrapping itself gently from wrist to elbow.
He glanced at his arm and hers, returned his gaze to her eyes, and spoke, barely a whisper. "I am yours, and you are mine, 'til the shadows take us." The glowing cord extended beyond her wrist, wrapping around his wrist and elbow.
Suddenly the glow of the chord erupted, a blast of golden aura radiating from between them in waxing pulses, until finally settling into the impression of what might have been a scar, running from Tonk's right elbow to Lupin's.
For a moment, all was silent. He watched her in bewildered wonder. She held his gaze, smiling playfully.
"Goodness, Tonks. A bit rushed, perhaps?"
She rolled her eyes. "We're going to war, darling, and I've been waiting on you since I was a schoolgirl."