A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first multi-chapter since an Ashes to Ashes one I posted in the summer and my first R/T one since 'Kiss the Rain', which feels like forever-ago. I'm not sure how long this one will be, I've got what I reckon to be half of it 100% completed and the rest is on its way. I'm always a bit dubious about posting unfinished pieces (hence why I mostly write one shots) because I always get really busy with school and have to stop writing. Hopefully that shouldn't happen now I've got exams out the way until May/June (hurrah!) and I can get this one on its way.

So I'm going to exploring the lives of our favourite werewolf (swoon) and Metamorphmagus if they got together, Remus ended up breaking out one full moon and attacking Tonks and so consequently broke up with her. Remus, who loses a sense of purpose, finds this group of werewolves sick of persecution because of mean, horrible werewolves like Fenrir Greyback who give them a bad name (bah humbug, Greyback) and are fighting back. They're basically like the anti-Christ of Greyback and Voldie.

Any hoo I hope this turns out to be interesting – please let me know how you find it: reviews containing any ideas and tips for up and coming chapters are heartily welcomed (which, in other words means, 'prayed for day and night').

Now bring on the story...

Disclaimer: I am blonde and British (just about, anyway) but I'm not worth millions of pounds and I definitely don't have an OBE, so I guess I can't be J.K. Rowling, so that means I can never own them. Eh, I'll just borrow them for a while, until I get bored of playing...

-/-/-

Lupus Fortis

Chapter 1: The Violence of the Moon

He shifted his weight awkwardly as he simultaneously tried to turn the page of his book. The specks of dust danced around the pages of his ancient, leather bound hardback, illuminated in the singular weak beam of sunlight that had managed to battle its way through the pewter clouds.

He sighed as he struggled to read the faded words on the careworn page – it would be dusk soon. He always dreaded the build up to sunset; it never failed to feel both too quick and too slow. The only thing he could tell himself was that sunrise tomorrow would be the furthest away he could ever be from the full moon and the transformation that came with it and that it was also the most human he would ever be.

"Remus?" a voice called softly from the other side of the flat, jolting him out of his reverie. There was a pause for a moment as he considered getting up and greeting his better half but as he moved, the usual pre-transformation pangs down his back and legs made him decide otherwise.

"Yeah Dora?" he called back, hoping she wouldn't mind.

"I'm home!" she called unnecessarily. "Do you want a cup of tea?"

"I'm fine thanks," he replied, knowing that there was no point trying to even drink anything now – he'd only regret it in a few hours time.

Even from the living room he could hear Tonks clattering around in the kitchen, obviously fixing herself something to eat. He remembered the first few transformations she'd been involved in on the occasions she'd planned to stay overnight at Grimmauld Place, when Sirius had been alive. On the extremely rare instances when Sirius had actually been given an Order duty to do and it had been only the two of them, she'd tried to bring him everything he could possibly need and do everything right – always offering him something else to eat or drink, or asking if he needed something for the pain in his bones or wanted her to do anything. In truth, there was nothing she could do and she'd soon learnt that fact and accepted that he wasn't just refusing all help out of pure stubbornness. Nowadays, the day of the full moon was very nearly as normal as any other. Not that that didn't mean he no longer worried about undergoing a transformation under the same roof as Tonks, (especially now they were both living in her flat) or that he had stopped thinking about how their relationship was damaging her reputation and credibility at work.

Tonks appeared in the room a moment later, carrying a steaming mug of tea in one hand and sandwich on a small plate in the other, she had her eyes fixed on the ground around her, tongue between teeth, looking for any possible obstacles or bare patches in the carpet waiting to dupe her and cause her to stumble. She deposited her things on the coffee table and collapsed heavily onto the sofa with a sigh. She tucked her legs beneath her and leaned against him.

Remus closed his book with a snap, tossed it onto the same coffee table and smiled affectionately at her, leaning over to kiss her chastely on the lips; a gesture which soon turned into a longer, more tender kiss. She broke away eventually when the need to yawn overcame her,

"S-s-sorry, m'just so tired," she said from behind her hand, her fingernails today a bright peach colour.

"Hard day at work?" he asked concernedly, linking their fingers together.

"Yeah, Umbridge still feels the need to poke her podgy nose where it's not wanted and then run – well, I say run, I mean waddle – back to the Minister, quoting all our faults and inventing some new ones too just so he'll put more pressure on the department. You should see how stressed everyone is at the moment, even Kingsley has started losing his temper. She wants proof that the Death Eaters are out there because otherwise, in her opinion, our efforts could be better directed on catching dark creatures and half breeds..." she trailed off, "but that's an entirely different can of Flobberworms," she said hurriedly trying to detract from what she obviously thought was a bit of a blunder on her part. After a minute's pause she looked up at him awkwardly, peering through her currently midnight blue fringe. "Sorry. You know I didn't mean anything by it, it's just Umbridge, the bitch, people like her get me really angry; it came out wrong..." she paused when he snorted slightly,

"S'fine, 'Dora. I hadn't even noticed anyway and even if I had, you get used to people like her when you've had as long as I've had, just don't take the bait, that's what she wants," he said, knowing full well that news of their relationship may well have filtered through to Umbridge by now and that this was not good for Tonks at all in the current climate; too many werewolves were joining Greyback, who was in league with Voldemort, and many more were just going missing.

"I know, it's just bloody hard sometimes," she replied, chewing a piece of sandwich, "the old gargoyle just won't crawl back under her rock; we've all said we'd rather have a Dementor or two in the office – they'd suck less atmosphere out the room than she does," she said angrily and Remus huffed sympathetically, suppressing a grin at her unintentionally amusing references to Umbridge, although he knew she was already biased to begin with. There was silence for a moment while Tonks bit into her sandwich again. After she had swallowed she asked, with concern showing on her face,

"What about you? How have you been today?"

"Oh fine thanks, I haven't really had all that much to do – just had to nip to Grimmauld for a while to do a bit of work for the Order and then I looked through the newspapers for anything of use," he said heavily, it was weird in Number 12 without Sirius there and he always dreaded going back to the cold, empty house.

"Anything we can use?"

"Nope, not a Kneazle, so I just read for a bit after that,"

"Well at least you haven't had to bother yourself with anything too tiring today," she said in a happy tone, "you need to rest."

"Well it makes me feel guilty," he replied, "sitting around doing nothing while you run yourself ragged,"

"Well, ordinarily you work bloody hard for the Order and for the most part I enjoy my job," she answered, a slight tone of defiance in her voice, "but it's just this business of never knowing who you can trust even in your own department and that...woman interfering that I haven't got any time for," she finished forcefully and accidentally took an overlarge bite of her sandwich. She began choking immediately and Remus, knowing that Tonks could turn even the most mundane situation into an injury-fraught experience, shuffled quickly towards her, prepared to help out when she somehow mercifully managed to swallow the offending morsel and stop coughing. She looked up sheepishly, dark eyes watering furiously.

"Nice one Tonks," she muttered to herself, dabbing her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, now fairly amused after ascertaining she wasn't going to choke and die. She nodded, eyes loosely shut, clearing her throat.

"Fine thanks," she replied, her voice scratchy. He chuckled and kissed each eyelid tenderly. They fell into a comfortable silence and then,

"Although, it comes to something when you entrust your day to day Dark Wizard Catching to someone who can't even eat a sandwich properly, doesn't it?" Remus teased, swerving the fist that came flying upwards towards his chin but not quite missing the pillow that found his face.

-/-/-

He let out a stream of whispered expletives that would never normally graze the very fringes of his mind, let alone his lips. The pain hadn't been this bad in a long while and although he knew it had a lot to do with the increasing scarceness of Wolfsbane he suspected the highly unwise, totally impromptu (although granted, hilariously funny) fight against an armed Metamorphmagus – albeit with a pillow – was mostly to blame here.

He gave in and removed the last of his clothes, adding them to the pile on the floor, praying he wouldn't tear them up later. He padded across the room whilst he still could, checking and checking again the lock on the door and the strength of the charms around it. This was only the third time he had been forced to transform in Tonks' flat. The conditions weren't ideal, by any stretch of the imagination. He had prepared the spare bedroom by removing the sparse furniture, shrinking each item and leaving them in the kitchen and at the last minute, using a weak, temporary engorgement charm on the room to make the floor space slightly bigger for the wolf.

The waiting, he had discovered, was the worst. Here, was the possibility for his worst nightmare to come true and while he had to sit and pass the time until his body was ripped apart his thoughts fell to everything that could possibly go wrong. One tiny slip up could have horrendous results and he knew it. He tried not to think of what he could physically do to her if the pitiful supply of Wolfsbane he had procured this cycle wasn't enough to even grant him his human mind. He tried not to imagine her blood on his muzzle, his teeth, his fur. He tried not to imagine her body lying broken on the ground. But more than that, he tried not to imagine biting her and cursing her with the same affliction he suffered. Because he knew, beyond all doubt, that if he did commit the hideous crime, she would still love him all the same and that would be the worst of all.

He knew she wasn't stupid or weak or immature. Whilst many others seemed to be under this very illusion he had known from the moment he met her. Stupid, weak, immature women didn't make the Auror Office, Mad-Eye only let in the strong, brave and perceptive ones. But being an Auror didn't mean anything, not right now. Not even wizened Aurors like Mad-Eye or tall, looming ones like Kingsley could protect themselves against a werewolf when in a tiny flat such as Tonks'.

Worst of all was that Remus knew he should leave. He could just Apparate to some forest on the outskirts of nowhere, where he could harm no one, least of all her. However, he had been heartily warned that even if he did survive a long, cold night in an unfamiliar forest with any number of other creatures around, he certainly wouldn't survive the hexes she'd throw at him when he turned up on her doorstep the next morning. No way was she letting him transform anywhere but her own flat.

For what he could sense would be the last time, he checked the engorgement charm, silencing charms which had been cast unbeknownst to Tonks (so she wouldn't hear his deafening, animalistic cries) and barricading charms were still holding. Then he crumpled, shaking to the floor as he felt the process beginning.

-/-/-

She kept putting her book down and walking to the window and back, then picking the book up before putting it down again to check the time. She must have read the same paragraph about seven times before giving up entirely and just sitting on the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees.

She wondered why she couldn't hear any noises; surely he couldn't manage to keep silent all this time. It was now gone two in the morning and the moon was in her element, high in the sky. It was bound to have started by now but the whole flat was completely and utterly silent, save for her own breathing and the sound of the dripping tap in the kitchen.

She decided she'd go to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, more to stretch her legs and occupy herself than out of desire for the drink when a sharp crack made her jump and bump into the coffee table. She paused and held her breath to listen. For a second all she could hear was the silence ringing in her ears after such an unexpected noise but then, there it was again, louder this time. It sounded rather disconcertingly like wood splintering.

He heart began thudding in her chest as some kind of sixth sense told her what it was. She began to inch towards the spare bedroom, curiosity telling her to go forward, sense screaming at her to run away.

She rounded a corner that led to her bathroom and the spare bedroom, very cautiously and timidly. She let out a muffled scream which mingled with the deafening sound of the door breaking apart – the thin plywood shattering easily.

No sooner had the door collapsed then Remus appeared. The lack of Wolfsbane had caused him to transform fully; he dwarfed her slight frame with ease as he moved on his hind legs, stooping to avoid banging his head on the ceiling. Wiry mid-brown fur covered the entirety of his body and when he turned his face Tonks gasped. Those eyes. They were unmistakeably his eyes; such a light hazel they were almost golden, flecked as if with paint, with hues of light brown. Their eyes met for a brief second and she almost forgot to breath – he was in there. She knew with every inch of her body, mind and soul that whether the moon had robbed him of his humanity or not that this was Remus Lupin.

However, someone had undoubtedly forgotten to tell him that. He began advancing on her, his poise partly threatening but mostly he looked...curious. Every slow pace he made towards her, Tonks mimicked with a barely perceptible step backwards, as if they were dancing. If she could only reach the wand lying on the coffee table, she stood a good chance if he startled and attacked her. Why hadn't she picked it up? She had never been any good at wandless spells, not even summoning.

She was an Auror for Merlin's sake, having her wand with her should have been her first priority; all those years of Auror training when she would periodically jump out of her skin when Moody barked his trademark phrases; 'constant vigilance!', 'don't put your wand there girl!' and 'elementary wand conduct, no one bothers about that anymore!'. If he was one of those Muggle dolls she'd been given by her paternal grandmother one Christmas, the ones which spoke if you pressed their stomach, those would be his three pre-recorded phrases. And after three years of him repeating his mantras, she still apparently hadn't learnt anything. Not even to keep her mind solely on the issue at hand, as she had somehow utterly distracted herself from the werewolf-shaped problem literally right in front of her with silly thoughts of trivial Muggle toys that had no real function whatsoever.

Remus was right in front of her now but, and her heart gave a jolt as she realised this, he was just staring at her. He had stooped down so that their gazes could align themselves and his light eyes seemed to be joining with her dark ones, as if fused in priori incantantum. She sighed slightly and allowed herself to relax, not having realised just how much her body had tensed. The whole flat was silent except for the sound of their breathing – hers light and almost stifled, his more haggard and clearly audible. He seemed slightly perturbed, perhaps by her outward lack of terror but Aurors were first and foremost trained to maintain a poker face and suppress obvious body language. And she supposed she wasn't scared in the conventional sense. It was weird to feel terrified of the prospect that the werewolf in front of her might tear her limb from limb and yet still remain almost calm too.

But, this was Remus for Merlin's sake and despite the fact she knew it was ridiculous to claim that he would suddenly, miraculously recognize her and curl up like a tame dog, chin resting on her knee, it was impossible to fear something she was so convinced was truly human. Although this was no fairytale, of one thing she was totally sure – true monsters didn't have eyes of liquid gold, bright and lively as stardust. What was more, he hadn't attacked her yet. He was definitely curious. He breathed more deeply as if he was trying to taste the air and she prayed he might recognize her scent.

They were there for mere minutes but they moved like millennia and she knew time was running out. He was starting to fidget irritably, as if his curiosity was waning. He certainly wouldn't be willing to stand and stare like this until dawn, that was for sure. So, feeling almost suicidal, she lowered her gaze then her head entirely, showing him her neck – she knew she had to be submissive; at this present moment he was a werewolf, an animal and he needed to feel in charge. She slowly rotated her wrists so her palms were facing upwards and tried to surreptitiously morph slightly to make herself smaller. He kept his eyes fixed upon her as he began to pace around and, heart thudding like the drums of a tribal chorus, she whispered,

"Remus?" whilst trying to barely move her lips. But that was it. The spell was broken and the noise had caused her to become all too real, small and vulnerable to him. A rumbling growl built up in his throat. Tonks raised her head quickly enough to see his defensive position and his risen hackles, revealing huge, lethal teeth. Even the redeeming beauty of his eyes had been lost as they became angry and fearsome; monstrous.

She feinted backwards as he launched forward, his jaws inches from her shoulder. She ran towards the table where her wand lay, made a grab for it and tumbled forward; the frail thing mercifully clutched in her right hand. She was still dimly aware, despite the ringing in her ears and the pain jabbing at her side where she'd fallen that she didn't really want to hurt him, only defend herself and, although he was angry, he still wasn't fully attacking her – simply raging around the room, as if disorientated.

She tried an array of spells from stunning to minor injury charms such as the conjunctivitis curse and levitating charms to distract him, but nothing came close to working. By the time she had fallen a second time she was bleeding from numerous gashes that likely came from the thick claws that were attached to heavy, flailing paws but whose source may just as easily have been glistening, venomous teeth.

As despair began to seep into her she did the last thing she could think of. A second werewolf appeared in the room, pearly-white and translucent it distracted its brown-furred counterpart for the mere two seconds it took to glide urgently out the window and off into the bleak, cloudy night.

A/N: Few, we got to the end...aaaand I know it's a cliffie, I'm sorry. It's just, what happens is, I get carried away, realise that if I write what I want I will literally have a 7,000 plus word chapter and people will just get angry at me and throw stuff, so I cut it off at the best point I could find and turned the next third of the writing into Chapter Two. This piece will make an appearance as soon as I'm done tweaking with it, that is, if people seem interested. But yeah, I do hope y'all enjoyed, I'm having fun writing this one and it's coming quite naturally, touch wood, so I'm hoping that comes through.

Please drop a review to let me know how this chapter is, what you thought was good/terrible and what, if anything, you'd like to read next. Seriously, you would actually be making a poor 'A' Level Student's day if I can battle through a day at school, drive home through pouring rain and terrible school traffic (eventually – my car breaks down all the time) and then know I can read some feedback on my fanfics. Go on, help a student in need today – you know you want to =D!