Just The Way You Are: A Ronks Story

Ruff Ruff!

When Remus woke up the next morning, everything would have been perfect. But then he remembered his transformation. It would be happening that night. He sighed, and tried to console himself with the thought that he wasn't going to have to make excuses to Tonks about why he was locking himself in his room and not speaking to anyone that night.

Remus quietly headed to the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of corn flakes and milk. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat along with the cereal.

While he was staring forlornly at his breakfast, Tonks quietly snuck into the kitchen. She grabbed a bagel and sat down across from him. Remus was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice when she waved a hand in front of his face and said, "Earth to Remus!"

"Hmmm?" asked Remus, not fully focused.

"Remus!" Tonks cried. "Pay attention!"

Remus seemed to see her for the first time. "Uh, have you been sitting here this whole time?" he asked.

"For the last five minutes," said Tonks, shrugging. "What's wrong?"

"The full moon's tonight," said Remus miserably. He absentmindedly picked at a scab on his arm that looked like it had just healed. Tonks watched him.

"Well, think about it, you won't have to go through it again until next month," said Tonks, trying to bring Remus over to the bright side, instead of his gloomy land where skies were gray.

"Yeah, but I don't want to go through it at all!" Remus slammed his spoon down on the table and shoved his untouched breakfast away from him.

"Well..." Tonks seemed to be thinking hard. "Do you want to take a walk? I have to go over to my parents' house anyway to pick something up."

"Sure," sighed Remus. "Now?"

"Yep," said Tonks.

Remus put his coat on and buttoned it up snugly. He then found his shoes in the mess of dog hair on the porch. Shaking them upside down, dog hair floated out of them. He then jammed them onto his feet. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly, and there was a hint of fall in the air. Remus blew his breath out to see just how cold it was. His breath froze white in the air.

Tonks appeared behind him, in a pale green hoodie. She shivered as the cold air hit her.

"Have you seen my shoes?" she asked.

Remus walked around the porch, looking at muddy pawprints. There was a sort of snuffling sound coming from below the porch.

"Listen," said Remus quietly. "There's something under there."

Tonks cocked her head to one side, and then hopped off the porch and looked under.

A ball of fur exploded out, and Tonks screamed and jumped to the side. A small tan mutt raced off into the trees.

Tonks warily looked down again. There was a tiny puppy, smaller than any dog either Tonks or Remus had ever seen. It was chewing on the lace of Tonks's shoe. Her other shoe lay beside it, unharmed.

"Oh, isn't it cute?" Tonks seemed madly in love with the dog.

"Uh, I don't know," Remus backed away from it.

What Remus and Tonks guessed was the mamma dog came back, and grabbed the puppy beside the one that Tonks had been admiring. It gathered all of them except for the dog that had been chewing on the lace. It growled at the little puppy and raced away.

"Oh, she abandoned it!" Tonks wailed. The little puppy gave a weak cry and struggled to stand up. Its back leg looked badly twisted. Tonks seemed near tears. She gently picked it up, much to the horror of Remus, who still thought that it was dangerous, and stroked its head. Tonks also put on her shoes, ignoring the fact that her socks were covered in dog hair.

"Tonks, don't fall in love with it!" said, Remus, kneeling down next to Tonks. "I don't think it's gonna live."

"I can't help it!" Tonks wiped her eyes. "It looks so... cute, and... pitiful."

"I know," said Remus gently. "But it might die. Look at its leg."

"Can we at least try to help it? Please?" Tonks was now pleading and giving Remus puppy dog eyes. So was the puppy, who opened its eyes a tiny bit and struggled to look up at Remus.

"Oh alright, let's take it inside," said Remus.

Tonks tenderly set the puppy down onto the couch. It lay limp and cold. Tonks gently patted it and stroked its head. "Don't die, don't die," she told it. "What do dogs eat?"

"I'll get it some milk," said Remus, who secretly loved the little dog as much as Tonks did.

There were footsteps on the stairs and Remus looked up from where he was heating the milk.

"What's going on?" yawned Sirius.

"Tonks found a nearly dead dog and wants to save it," said Remus.

"Is it cute?" asked Sirius.

"Very. If you want to see the dog, Tonks is in the living room."

"Okay," said Sirius, going back up the stairs.

The disadvantage of having a basement kitchen was that Sirius fell over the top step and wound up back at the bottom. He raced back up and gave a yell of, "That thing's a dog?"

"Yes," said Tonks. "It's a perfectly good dog too!"

"What's wrong with its leg? And why are there bite marks in your shoe?" Sirius looked down at Tonks's black tennis shoes, now scarred with teeth marks.

"The mamma dog got a hold of it," said Tonks.

"Poor shoe!" remarked Sirius. "Will the puppy be okay?"

"I'm not sure," said Tonks. "But I hope so!"

"Me too," said Sirius. "It's just... normally I wouldn't care, but when you see something that small and helpless, it just makes you feel real bad."

"I know," said Tonks. "I think I can forgive the puppy for trying to eat my shoelace."

Remus came back with the milk, and the puppy lapped it up. "You can't keep calling it, 'the puppy'. It needs a proper name," he said.

"Who gets to name it?" asked Tonks.

"Obviously Tonks does," said Sirius. "It sounds like she cared the most about it!"

"Well, okay." Tonks seemed to be thinking hard. "How about... Sneaker?"

Sirius roared with laughter. "That's a good one!"

"I was originally thinking 'Shoelace'," admitted Tonks. "But I thought it might appreciate Sneaker better."

"That's a great name!" said Remus.

"Ruff!" said Sneaker, who had opened her eyes fully and was now looking around with wide eyes. "Ruff Ruff!"