Contemplation
Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series. All characters belong to her..
Author's Note: These are just short vignettes displaying interactions between Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks during OotP, written because I had an idea. Well, several, actually. My tribute to the genius of salt-rose, whose tiny glimpses into said characters' lives were absolutely amazing. And to LRES readers, I will have another chapter up soon, I promise.
He finds Sirius's cigarettes two weeks later, after a venture into the quiet room. It's summer, warm, and bright, and glaring, and he could-should-be out doing so many other things. But he props up one knee and sits on the wide ledge, lighting one from the pack and knowing it's going to be stale and horrible. He doesn't care. It's been over a decade since he's smoked, and he coughs, initially, but that too goes away after a while, just like everything in life. Tonks may stop by later in the day, and they may walk down to the dilapidated old diner several blocks away, or perhaps just stay in and tangle up the white sheets, but that's not for a few hours, and so he can sit here in the sunlight and grieve in his own, silent little way.