Just The Way You Are: A Ronks Story

In The World

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" screamed Sirius one morning. Mrs. Weasley had moved out, and so Remus, Tonks, and Sirius were left alone in the house.

"Happy Halloween!" cheered Tonks. A pair of cat ears were perched on her head, and she was trying to food-color her hard-boiled egg to look like a pumpkin. She snatched some lettuce off of Remus's breakfast sandwich and placed it on top. Tonks frowned. "This doesn't look like a pumpkin."

"Turn the egg on its side," suggested Remus.

"Ooh, okay!" Tonks flipped her egg onto its side and placed the lettuce on top. "Much better."

Remus was now staring into his orange juice dreamily, like he was imagining a perfect scene, where there weren't cockroaches climbing up the walls, and Sirius wasn't there to play tricks on him.

Sirius snatched the food coloring away from Tonks. "I'm going to make a pumpkin out of bread! Remus, move, you're hogging the best part of the table!"

Remus took his orange juice and moved to a different chair, slowly sipping his drink. He watched, amused, as pumpkin art took over the table. Sirius had molded three slices of bread into a large ball, which he thoroughly doused in food coloring. He grabbed some lettuce from the sandwich Remus had left unattended and placed it on top. "There. Mr. Pumpkin."

Tonks giggled as she peeled her egg. When she had finished, she threw the bits of shell at Sirius, who promptly turned them into two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

"Oh, you're eating your pumpkin!" screamed Sirius, who immediately fell to the floor. "You've killed him!"

"It was a she," said Tonks, who was laughing so hard she began to choke alarmingly. Remus immediately whacked her on the back and handed her a glass of water. As soon as her life had been saved, she went back to laughing.

"You've killed the wife of my bread-pumpkin!" shrieked Sirius from the floor.

"Yes, I have," said Tonks with a solemn face. Or as solemn as she could muster, which wasn't very serious, but was very funny.

"Ha ha," said Remus. He picked up his half-finished orange juice. "I'm going upstairs to watch TV, don't die, Tonks." He walked across the kitchen and up the stairs again.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Sirius.

"Yep. Why did he tell me not to die?" asked Tonks.

"No, not that." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Oh. Then what?"

"We should..." Sirius waited a beat. "Spy on him!"

"But I see him all the time," said Tonks, who looked confused. "I already know what he does."

"Well maybe you'll find out some different things. Let's go." Sirius began to creep up the stairs, and a reluctant Tonks followed him.

CNN was on in the living room, and Remus was parked in front of the television in an armchair, watching it.

"Boring," yawned Tonks. Remus frowned and looked around.

"Shhh!" Sirius shushed Tonks in a whisper louder than he usually yelled. "He'll hear you!"

"No, he'll hear you!"

"You!"

"You!"

"I can hear both of you," said Remus, without even turning his head. Tonks and Sirius clamped their hands firmly over their mouths.

"Retreat!" whispered Sirius. The two slid back down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Actually, I'm going up to watch CNN too," said Tonks.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You just want to get on his good side, so you can blame me for spying, don't you?"

"Nooo," said Tonks. She edged towards the kitchen door. "Bye!"

In the living room, Tonks settled down next to Remus. "Hello!"

"Were you spying on me?" asked Remus.

"Trick or treat!" said Tonks happily. 

Sirius came into the room, throwing candy to them. A Milky Way bar collided with Remus's head, which Tonks grabbed eagerly. "Yummy!"

Remus put his arms up to shield his face from the candy that was pelting him at all angles. Tonks reached over him and grabbed an umbrella that had been leaning against the chair. She opened it, and calmly held it above her head as candy rained down. She sat peacefully in the armchair eating her Milky Way and pretending nothing was going on.

Remus rolled his eyes. He couldn't get over the feeling that something was bothering Tonks. When he'd asked her if she would be willing to help him clean the windows, a task that the Auror hated, he had expected a fight, but she had bustled right over to help. It felt unnatural, and Remus was sincerely worried about their relationship.

Not only was he worried about how things were going between them, he also felt more and more certain that Tonks deserved better than him. At least if they were drifting farther and farther apart it wouldn't really come as a shock when they broke up. Remus was sure they would. Tonks didn't seem to think so.

"Um, well, would you like to do something?" asked Remus.

"When?" Tonks seemed more interested in examining her candy bar wrapper for extra traces of chocolate than answering him.

"How about Monday?" suggested Remus.

"Sure," said Tonks. "I'd love to." Her voice was flat, and it suggested that she didn't actually want to, and she wasn't interested."

Remus felt a wave of sadness wash over him. He wasn't ready for this. He could just imagine how it would go: "Well, you see, you're a werewolf, and I'm an Auror, and I'm supposed to be against werewolves. Werewolf. Auror. Werewolf. Auror. Those two words don't go together. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with you,  but it's time for it to end now. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is." As he imagined the scene, each imaginary word tugged at his heart.

Tonks, perhaps realizing she'd been a bit too rough, quickly changed her tone. "I mean, I really would love to. We haven't done anything in quite a while."

Remus recognized the all-too familiar honey-sweet touch to her voice. His mother had used it when attempting to persuade him to do something. He sighed and leaned against the chair, closing his eyes and not caring if Tonks saw. She did, and laid her hand on his. Remus looked wearily over at Tonks. He had to say something, and so he did.

"Tonks, do you feel like we should..." Remus trailed off, as if hoping Tonks would catch the meaning of his unspoken words. She didn't, and furrowed her brow in confusion, and her eyes clouded over with anxiety. 

"We should what?" asked Tonks in a small, scared voice. When Remus didn't answer, she raised her voice. "We should what?"

Gathering his courage, Remus spoke. "Look, it's not going to help if we keep arguing with each other and feeling guilty. Do you feel like we should... break up?"

"How could you say that?" demanded Tonks. She no longer looked confused, now she looked ready to kill Remus.

"See?" Remus exasperatedly gestured to Tonks. "I say one little thing and you get ready for a fight. See what I mean? Tonks, we can't keep going in circles like this."

"We're not going in circles," whispered Tonks. "You said you forgave me. You said you weren't angry, but you are! Remus John Lupin, you're a liar!" Tonks flounced out of the room, and Remus heard a door slam above him.

"That didn't go too well," said Remus, absentmindedly picking up The Daily Prophet. "Now, what's going on in the world?"