Light in the Darkness

Chapter 17: Fred and George Weasley Must Not Cause Trouble

Remus and Tonks were tired. It had been a long day. Ever since Arthur had been attacked, Mad-Eye had been more motivated to watch the known Death Eaters and the Department of Mysteries. Now, Mad-Eye never scheduled anyone to watch the Department of Mysteries alone. As of late, it had been Tonks and Mad-Eye who had been on watch there, as only employees of the Ministry were set to watch down there. Consequently, it had been quite a long time since Tonks had been set to watch Death Eaters with Remus. He hadn't even seen her since Christmas.

Her hair had been dark brown for the duration of the evening. Remus knew she had only changed it so that she wouldn't stick out as much while they were watching Dolohov. Now, as they returned to Grimmauld Place, the dark brown strands faded away into a bright pink color. Remus smirked a little. He liked it this way better, not that he would ever tell her. "Would you like some tea?" he suggested to her. She nodded enthusiastically.

"It was awfully cold tonight," she commented, sitting down at the kitchen table. "Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without a Warming Charm. How on earth do Muggles cope without magic?" Remus chuckled a little.

"You'll have to ask Arthur," he answered. "He would know better than any of us." He poured the tea into two mugs and handed one to her. He sat down across from her. It was strange to him that he felt so comfortable around her. He had only known her for a few short months, but he was glad they were friends. "What does Mad-Eye have you doing next week?"

"Department of Mysteries," she replied sighing. "I'd rather have watch with you. Death Eaters are more interesting than a hallway. What are you doing next week?" Remus hesitated for a moment, wondering how to say this. He had never talked to Tonks about his transformation.

"Well-er-next week is the full moon," he said, suddenly very interested with staring at the kitchen table. Tonks didn't say anything for a moment, just stared at Remus with all the compassion in the world. He was ashamed of what he was, that was as plain as day. But she didn't care if he was werewolf or a centaur or even a vampire. Remus Lupin was strong, courageous, and kind man. That was what mattered to her.

"How long have you been a werewolf?" she asked him quietly. He raised an eyebrow at the question, like he was surprised she wanted to know anything about that side of him.

"Since I was very young," he told her simply. He didn't seem like he wanted to go on about it, but Tonks wanted to hear more of his life.

"You were friends with Harry's dad in school, right? And Sirius?" A shadow of a memory passed across his face for a moment. He looked sad and lonely. He seemed to have aged twenty years in the span of one moment.

"I was," he stated. "Foolish children we were."

"You make it sound like you have lived for hundreds of years, Remus. I reckon you're only in your thirties, maybe nearly forty at the most. You're not as terribly old as you seem to think." Once again, Nymphadora Tonks surprised him. He supposed she was right, he did act older than he really was, but he felt older than he really was, too. "What did you want to be when you were young? Did you always want to be a professor?" He shook his head.

"No, I always wanted to be an Auror, actually. But then, they would never allow someone like me to do that."

"People can surprise you sometimes," Tonks stated. "Maybe one day you'll be able to." He gave her a small smile, not really believing what she was saying. He couldn't allow himself to. Because Nymphadora Tonks had a very real potential of making Remus hopeful.

"We have a war to live through first."

"Oh, I think we will." They could only hope. Remus didn't really expect to, if he was honest. It counted it sheer luck that he had lived through the last war. He didn't really expect to live through a second one.