If ive said it once, I've said it a thousand times. I do'nae own the wee potter boy, nor the story by the lass J.K Rowling. Daft wee lads and lassies. (That's right I'm in a Scottish mood!)
The next week was tense and stressful. Tonks avoided Remus now, and he did much the same to her. She didn't want to, but she really needed to think and come up with some sort of idea as how to win him over. She wasn't one to give up easily, and was a firm believer in "You can do anything if you put your mind to it" as her father habitually said. Tonks wasn't sleeping well, either. Every dream replayed him and her in her head, and it always finished with him leaving her. She couldn't even make her own brain imagine him staying.
Remus had left that day on a mission, a mission only few knew about in the Order. If it hadn't been for Tonks pinching a pair of Extendable Ears from the twins, she would have never found out. Remus was staying and running with the werewolves at the full moon. More accurately, Graybacks pack. He was trying to induce the few that would listen to join the light side, but as Voldemort had been getting the majority of them before he came out in public, Remus was having a gruelling time not being torn apart from suggesting that Voldemort may be the one on the wrong side. Tonks couldn't really blame the wolves. The ministry had very austere laws on "half-breeds" and if Voldemort was saying he would abandon the laws, then Remus was up for an exigent time.
She sighed in thought as she shivered out in the cold in her old hag disguise. She couldn't really understand why someone had to be on watch here at the Burrow, as the only house from miles was the Lovegoods, who lived over the hill. Yet Tonks stood in the cold waiting for Arthur to relive her in the morning.
...
It was early morning, and the sun had been up for perhaps 2 hours. The air was slowly getting warmer, and Tonks yawned as her eyes tried from the millionth time that night to close. She heard a crack, the sign of someone aparating and she looked around, wand raised, to see what it was. It could just be Moody trying to remind her of "constant vigilance." Or it could be a death eater. Tonks heard a groan of pain and turned in its direction. She could she someone stumble and fall, try to push themselves up, before collapsing on weak arms. Arthur came up behind her and tapped on her shoulder. She whirled around surprised.
"It's Remus. Go to him, it's my shift now anyway." Tonks headed over to Remus who had given up trying to get up, simply lying there in the tall grass, as if he was waiting for it to swallow him whole, and to never be seen again. She knelt down beside him, and gently rolled him onto his back. She swallowed in sickened shock. She hadn't ever seen him immediately after a transformation, but if she had, she had a feeling that even then he wouldn't have looked quite so dreadful. She swallowed again trying to taking in the gruesomeness of what had to be the work of werewolves. He was cut open everywhere and his eye was bruised shut. The other opened; the usual gray blue colour, only flecked with amber, and he managed to gasp out her name. Tonks apperated them inside* and into the lounge room. She levitated him onto the lounge and left to get some water and a cloth to clean his face. Remus grabbed her hand before she left.
"Don't leave." She sighed and smiled slightly.
"I'm just going to get something for the cuts. I'll be back before you can say "Whotcha Tonks."" He gave her a small grin and let go of her hand. When Tonks came back into the lounge with the warm water and cloth, he had fallen fast asleep. Damping the cloth, she cleaned the stale blood that stained his face, and cleaned the scratches that had torn open his chest. Above his navel it looked as though someone, or likely some wolf, had taken a chunk out of him and it was bleeding profusely. Spells wouldn't work to stop the bleeding, no matter what Tonks tried, and so she resorted to cleaning it the best she could, before binding it the Muggle way. She was tempted to give him stitches, the Muggle technique of sewing the skin back together, but with the way she was clumsy, she didn't want to risk it.
Remus groaned again in pain as he slept, and Tonks left to check the cupboard for pain relief potions. She found one that would work until he woke up, and she carried it back to him. She carefully tipped the potion down his throat, before healing the last of the bruising on his face and around his neck. With a sigh, Tonks picked everything up to carry back to the kitchen. She walked through the hall and tripped on the door entrance, falling and shattering the glass bowl. Landing on her hands, she picked herself up and over to the bin where she placed the shards of glass. Tonks looked down at her hands to find she had a jagged piece of glass sticking out of it. The realisation of pain came a second later, and she hissed as she removed the offending shard, and attempted to bandage her hand. She walked back out to the lounge room, where Remus had begun to waken.
"Whotcha, Remus." She said quietly, walking over to him.
"Whotcha, Tonks." He said even softer, closing his eyes again. Tonks gently pushed the hair that was falling into the wounds on face out of the way, before she turned to leave. Remus caught her wrist with his eyes closed and tugged her back to him. She looked down at him in confusion before he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down to him. He moved over on the lounge to make room for her before pulling her close to his chest, so that they were lying face to face. Remus pulled her hand to his face so he could see where Tonks had it bandage. "You're hurt." He muttered quietly. She snorted.
"You should see yourself." He smiled slightly before pressing a kiss to her palm. He closed his eyes and she pressed her lips gentle to his. She closed her eyes too, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.
...
A/N Yeah, plot bunny came into my head of tonks taking care of Remus. Thought I'd add some angst and add it to this story. Which means YES! There will be another bit. And one more after that if you vote for me to add it on. That's right, if you vote, yes you, I'll add a smut scene. Otherwise I'll just have one more angsty chappie, and you will all know that the Remus and tonks get together after Dumbledore dies and so and so. But yeah. * I know, they likely would have had anti apparition fields, but I think because it was so close to the entrance, the fields would have been from the outside into the boundary.
Ps. Tonks so snorts.