Just The Way You Are: A Ronks Story

Way Wrong

"Okay, she's been in there for half an hour now." Sirius and Remus had paused in their attempts to rescue a very frightened Tonks.

"Suppose she smothers?" Remus cocked his head to the side, studying the door.

"In what, spiders?" Sirius kicked the door with his unharmed foot. "Tonks, you okay?"

Silence.

"She's not moving around anymore, that's for sure." Remus held his ear to the door. "Tonks?"

"Get me out," whimpered Tonks. "It's dark in here. Also, boring."

"Are there still spiders?" Sirius wanted to know.

"Yes," Tonks said. "And they keep running all over the place."

"Well what do you expect them to do, stay still?" Remus threw up his hands.

"Yeah!" Tonks broke down into tears again. "Help! I don't like this!" At first Tonks had been banging violently on the door, and crying louder, but now she was a bit calmer, knowing that the spiders weren't going to kill her, strangle her, or harm her in any way. But she was still pretty upset, and wanted to get out as fast as possible.

"Look, we're going to get you out, but it might take some time," said Remus. "You'll live."

Tonks cried harder.

"Hey, lookit!" Sirius waved a bent piece of wire in Remus's face.

"What?"

"Don't you see? We can use this to unlock the door!"

"Sirius, I thought you were an idiot before, but I am seriously considering rethinking that." Remus took the piece of wire, and jiggled it in the lock. The door swung open, and Tonks hurtled into his arms. "Oof." Remus staggered under her weight, then regained his balance, and patted her on the head. "You're okay. You're fine, now."

A horde of spiders scuttled out, crawling up the desk leg and up to the ceiling, where they disappeared in cracks.

"Well, glad that's over," said Sirius. Neither Tonks, nor Remus paid any attention to him, they were too busy embracing each other.

Tonks buried her face in  Remus's shoulder and cried, wondering why she'd ever been stupid enough to tackle Sirius. Remus was stroking Tonks's head, wondering why he'd been stupid enough to shove Tonks in the closet.

"Order meeting!" bellowed Mad-Eye.

Once they were all settled in the basement kitchen, Mad-Eye began to speak. "Well, tonight, we're going to get Harry, you know that, right?"

"You mean it's snowed, and we still haven't got Harry?" whispered Tonks.

"Yep," Remus, readjusting his sleeve, and picking at his shirt collar. He felt unusually cranky because the full moon was in two days. Tonks grabbed Remus's hand away from his neck, and rubbed it. 

"Stay still," she whispered. Remus nodded, but at the next chance he got, he jerked his hand back, and scratched his neck. It was beginning to itch.

"So, don't break ranks, all right, guys? We leave at nine 'o clock, right after Tonks sends a letter by Muggle post, telling them that they've won a lawn competition."

"Remus!" Tonks gently scolded, dragging Remus's hand away from his neck again. "You've made your neck red. It looks like it hurts."

"It... doesn't." The truth was, it did hurt, now that Tonks mentioned it, and Remus put his other hand up to his throat. Tonks sighed, and shook her head, grabbing his other hand, and gently stroked them.

Remus sighed, and pulled away from her, putting his hands back to his neck out of habit, and looked at Tonks innocently as she scowled at him. "Well if it doesn't hurt now, then it'll hurt later." 

Remus groaned, feeling that he needed something to take his mind off of his mood, and that Tonks wasn't helping. He told her so.

"Sorry," said Tonks, putting her hands up in a gesture of surrender. When she turned away, Remus saw Tonks roll her eyes, and whisper something to Sirius, who cracked up. The two looked back at him, and Remus's face went red, and glanced off to the side, pretending not to notice.

As soon as the meeting was over, Remus headed up to his room. Tonks came up to join him. "Hello," she said brightly.

That's when Remus lost it. "Will you just shut up?" he yelled.

Tonks was unbothered. "No. No, I won't. What's with you?"

Remus sighed. He didn't feel like discussing the exchange between Tonks and Sirius, so he just fell silent and buried his face in his pillow. Tonks was quiet. After a few moments, Remus felt her hand gently rubbing his back, and he relaxed, knowing that Tonks wasn't upset that he'd yelled at her.

"It's okay," said Tonks, her voice almost a whisper. "It's okay. I get it. Sirius said you might be  a bit... off."

"I'm sorry," said Remus. "I shouldn't have lost my temper, it's my fault. Sorry."

"It was both of our faults." Tonks bit her lip, clearly suppressing a smile.

Remus pulled his head out of the pillow, and when he saw that Tonks was trying not to smile, he grinned at her. His wonderful Tonks. That's when it hit him. Tonks was his. No one else's. How did he have the most beautiful girlfriend on the face of the Earth, the girl of his dreams? He was a werewolf, and not used to romance.

Tonks flopped down on the bed beside him, and snuggled into his side. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too." Remus kissed Tonks on the forehead. Sneakers trotted in, covered in dust. Tonks sat up straight. 

"Sneakers! What did you do?"

The dog only gave a happy bark, and when Tonks tried to pet her, she shook her body all over, releasing dust particles, and causing her owner to sneeze.

"Sirius, I think Sneakers got under your bed," said Remus, sliding off of the bed to check out Sneakers. "Were you under his bed, girl?"

"Wuf!" Sneakers pranced away, eyes shining.

"Ah well, enjoy your days as a puppy," said Tonks. "They're gonna be gone soon, and soon you'll get old, and unable to walk, and eventually just fall over dead one day."

Sneakers whimpered.

Remus rolled his eyes, and shook his sand-colored hair out of his eyes. "I think I may need a haircut soon."

"Ask Molly," said Tonks, grinning. "She did Sirius's hair and he loved it!"

"Uh..." Remus trailed off, looking at Tonks like he'd seen her for the first time. "I think you've got it wrong. Way wrong."

Tonks shrugged, grinning.