fic: Deathly Hallows spoilers
Title: A Kept Promise
Characters: Remus, Tonks
Rating: Teen, I suppose, for language.
Disclaimer: The characters and/or anything else you recognize in this fan fiction belong to J.K. Rowling. I make nothing off of this, I’m just writing to curb my fix.
Warnings: Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Summary: In which Tonks is hormonal and Remus makes a promise that he intends to keep, no matter what.
“You’re a twat.” Nymphadora Tonks stated casually as she peered over her morning cup of tea, black with two, at Remus, who was standing in front of her with his figurative tail between his legs.
“I deserve that,” Remus said meekly, but not weakly, the full moon wasn’t until two weeks away so at least he couldn’t pull the tortured-wolf routine on her. Besides, if he wanted sympathy this was the last place he should have come.
“Damn right you do,” Tonks said, setting her favorite mug -- Aurors do it with their wands -- on the table. “So, what do you want?”
Remus cleared his throat. There wasn’t much to clear, but he did it anyway. It was something he did when he was nervous, or when he was trying to stall. Tonks didn’t give two flying fucks if he was either.
“There’s something I don’t miss,” Tonks muttered, hoping it was underneath her breath. The quirk of Remus’ eyebrow informed her otherwise. “Just saying, horrible habit. All of that isn’t necessary, you know, just get on with it.”
Remus stared at her blankly. He would say, that for once in his life, he didn‘t know exactly what to say, but that wouldn’t have been true. It might have been true before he fell in…whatever this was, with Tonks, but ever since then Remus had been constantly fumbling with his words, never knowing what the right thing to say was.
Tonks gave a frustrated groan and threw her hands up. “Let me guess, you don’t know what to say. Shall I refresh your memory, then?” She stood from her chair and took a long, exaggerated breath, and Remus saw first the first time, her round, swollen belly, and his breath got caught somewhere in this throat.
“You left me, eight weeks along in the middle of a bloody war under the disguise of needing to help Harry, when I really knew you just couldn’t handle being happy for two damn seconds.”
Tonks took a sip of tea, drew in another deep breath, and continued. “In the meanwhile I’ve been stuck here, having to hear I-told-you so’s and it’s-for-the-best’s from my twat of a mother, wondering where the goddamn hell you were, wondering if you were safe, wondering if you were…” Tonks screeched and beat her fists on the table like an angry child as she began to sob uncontrollably and tears splashed on her face.
“And!” She shrieked. “And! If that‘s not enough for you, I’m roughly the size of a quidditch pitch and crying - crying- at the ruddy drop of hat. Mad-eye’s gone, my dad is gone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are Merlin knows where, Death Eaters have taken over Hogwarts, and I can’t do a bloody fucking thing about it because I’m PREGNANT!”
Face flushed a bright pink and panting heavily, Tonks returned to her seat and took a long, lingering sip of tea to calm herself. The baby had not appreciated all the shouting and flailing about, apparently, and was currently entertaining delusions of being the world’s youngest soccer player. Over my dead and rotting corpse, she thought idly, this little bugger will be perfecting his seeking skills before he can say Mumma if I have anything to do with it.
Remus cleared his throat again. Seriously? And Tonks was pulled out of her thoughts, which had already begun to drift into the area of what the little bugger’s first quidditch robes would look like, and hmm, I wonder if they make shin guards that small?
“I’m sorry, did you have something to say Remus?” She asked with a seemingly superimposed smile and raised the mug to her lips once more.
“I’m sorry,” Remus confessed pathetically, shoulders drooped, eyes staring fixedly at the floorboards. Pathetic tosser couldn’t even be arsed to look her in the eye, how was that for an apology?
“Right,” Tonks snapped virulently. “Right.”
“I am,” Remus struggled. “I can’t describe how it feels to know how much trouble I’ve caused you.”
“Oh, that’s rich,” Tonks replied, just as bitterly, and then for emphasis, “Rich.”
“Nymphadora-”
“DON’T!” Tonks roared, leaping out of her chair at him. Remus ducked out of the way as Tonk’s favorite coffee mug very nearly became a permanent part of his skull.
“CALL ME-” A clear glass vase, along with a long stemmed white rose and a splash of water that it contained, was flung at him next. He leaned over just in time to miss the vase, but not the rose, and a rather vindictive thorn cut a deep, crimson line into his cheek as it whizzed by.
“NYMPHADORA!”
There was an explosion on each side of him, and Remus felt before he saw the slivers of glass that had been shattered from the china hutch and the curio cabinet piercing his skin.
“Oh Remus!” Tonks cried out, knocking the kettle off the table as she ran to him. Remus sat down on the floor and she examined his arm and the gash across his cheek. As if he needed another scar. He looked like a bleeding pin cushion, for Merlin’s sake. What had she done? “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to - pregnant - hormones. I couldn’t…Oh, bugger. Okay. Let me just-” She withdrew her wand from her back pocket and Remus cringed.
“Actually darling, I’d rather I-” He gave her an apologetic smile and took his own wand out from inside his coat pocket. Hundreds of tiny shards of glass slowly rose out of his arms, neck, and shoulders, as Remus muttered the healing charm to heal and seal the wounds. “There,” he said, smiling tenderly at her. “Never better.”
“I’m sorry,” she croaked, her cheeks already puffy and stained with tears.
“That’s what I’m supposed to say,” Remus palmed the curve of her jaw in his massive hand. Tonks could literally feel her mood swinging into something different, something less vindictive, and she leaned into his touch. She had always loved those hands, so rough, so large and protective. But she hadn’t forgotten what he had done to her.
“Are you?” She asked, gazing up into his brownish-gold eyes. “Are you really sorry and you’ll never do it again?”
Remus nodded and pressed his lips against hers. They were wet and he could taste the salt of her tears on her lips. He kissed them away, and kissed each eyelid, and kissed away the stray ones on her cheek. Tonks could literally feel the remorse surrounding Remus wash over her. Remus wanted her to forgive him more than anything, wanted her to know that he had been scared, stupid, but that he'd never leave her again, and more than anything, she wanted to believe him.
“You’re so beautiful,” Remus murmured, stretching his palm out over her expanding belly. “I cannot wait to meet our child, Dora.”
“I can’t believe you’re really back,” Tonks whispered, throwing her arms around his neck as she kissed him, kissed his lips, his cheeks, his ears, his forehead, his hair, his everything. She was sobbing again, but it was okay because they were happy tears, tears of joy and relief, and of pure, real happiness. Remus was back and they were going to have a baby and Harry was going to defeat Voldemort and they were going to be bloody great parents and everything was going to be O.K.
“I will never leave your side again, my love,” Remus murmured, pressing their foreheads together. “I promise. I will always be with you. No matter what.”
…..
…..
…..
…..
“You arse!” Tonks swung a translucent arm at Remus, highly annoyed when it only made his ethereal form ripple for a moment. “I can’t believe you - why did you do that!”
Remus only smiled as they floated away from their bodies and she really wanted to hit him, because that smile was even more beautiful in the afterlife and she really, really needed to be mad at him right now.
“I promised you, Nymphadora,” He said matter-of-factly, and she surprisingly found herself not caring that he was using her given name. “I promised you I would never leave your side again.”
“Remus,” Tonks stole one last glance at the castle as they drifted upward. “You - you arse.” She sniffled. “You didn’t have to do that…Teddy.”
“I know,” Remus’ smile faded and he took Tonks‘ hand in his own. “Don’t worry, love. I can’t think of a better godfather than Harry. He’ll watch out for him, and guide him through things, and we’ll be watching over him too, won’t we?”
Tonks nodded solemnly.
“And so will I,” a voice called from…somewhere, and it sounded oddly like Harry’s, but not quite.
“James?” Remus looked around, but the voice seemed to be coming from nowhere, and yet, everywhere.
“And me,” Another voice, belonging to her cousin, Sirius, assured them.
“And I,” a soft, feminine voice sang.
“Lily,” Remus smiled.
“Oi, what am I then, chop liver?”
“Fred!” Tonks shrieked gleefully.
“And I s’pose I’ll have to look after the little bugger as well,” Mad-Eye growled. “I hear the Dark Lord’s finally vanquished, but evil never rests, you know. Constant-”
“Mad-Eye!” Tonks rolled her eyes and laughed. The next voice that called out them, reassuring them that he, of course, would be watching over his grandson every second, nearly made Tonks cry, no matter that ghosts or spirits or whatever they were, couldn’t produce tears. Remus clasped her hand tightly in his own.
“Are you ready?” A familiar voice asked of them, and they both knew the man behind the voice would be wearing half-moon spectacles, his ethereal eyes still twinkling even in the afterlife.
Tonks looked up at Remus for guidance, but he only shook his head and smiled.
“I can’t help you make this decision,” He said. “It is yours to make and yours alone.” Tonks trembled and Remus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“Whatever you chose, Nymphadora, I will never leave your side. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. ”
Tonks looked into Remus eyes’ and put her hand to his face. “Thank you, Remus.”
Remus closed his eyes and pulled her against his chest.
“We’re ready, Albus.”
Characters: Remus, Tonks
Rating: Teen, I suppose, for language.
Disclaimer: The characters and/or anything else you recognize in this fan fiction belong to J.K. Rowling. I make nothing off of this, I’m just writing to curb my fix.
Warnings: Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Summary: In which Tonks is hormonal and Remus makes a promise that he intends to keep, no matter what.
“You’re a twat.” Nymphadora Tonks stated casually as she peered over her morning cup of tea, black with two, at Remus, who was standing in front of her with his figurative tail between his legs.
“I deserve that,” Remus said meekly, but not weakly, the full moon wasn’t until two weeks away so at least he couldn’t pull the tortured-wolf routine on her. Besides, if he wanted sympathy this was the last place he should have come.
“Damn right you do,” Tonks said, setting her favorite mug -- Aurors do it with their wands -- on the table. “So, what do you want?”
Remus cleared his throat. There wasn’t much to clear, but he did it anyway. It was something he did when he was nervous, or when he was trying to stall. Tonks didn’t give two flying fucks if he was either.
“There’s something I don’t miss,” Tonks muttered, hoping it was underneath her breath. The quirk of Remus’ eyebrow informed her otherwise. “Just saying, horrible habit. All of that isn’t necessary, you know, just get on with it.”
Remus stared at her blankly. He would say, that for once in his life, he didn‘t know exactly what to say, but that wouldn’t have been true. It might have been true before he fell in…whatever this was, with Tonks, but ever since then Remus had been constantly fumbling with his words, never knowing what the right thing to say was.
Tonks gave a frustrated groan and threw her hands up. “Let me guess, you don’t know what to say. Shall I refresh your memory, then?” She stood from her chair and took a long, exaggerated breath, and Remus saw first the first time, her round, swollen belly, and his breath got caught somewhere in this throat.
“You left me, eight weeks along in the middle of a bloody war under the disguise of needing to help Harry, when I really knew you just couldn’t handle being happy for two damn seconds.”
Tonks took a sip of tea, drew in another deep breath, and continued. “In the meanwhile I’ve been stuck here, having to hear I-told-you so’s and it’s-for-the-best’s from my twat of a mother, wondering where the goddamn hell you were, wondering if you were safe, wondering if you were…” Tonks screeched and beat her fists on the table like an angry child as she began to sob uncontrollably and tears splashed on her face.
“And!” She shrieked. “And! If that‘s not enough for you, I’m roughly the size of a quidditch pitch and crying - crying- at the ruddy drop of hat. Mad-eye’s gone, my dad is gone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are Merlin knows where, Death Eaters have taken over Hogwarts, and I can’t do a bloody fucking thing about it because I’m PREGNANT!”
Face flushed a bright pink and panting heavily, Tonks returned to her seat and took a long, lingering sip of tea to calm herself. The baby had not appreciated all the shouting and flailing about, apparently, and was currently entertaining delusions of being the world’s youngest soccer player. Over my dead and rotting corpse, she thought idly, this little bugger will be perfecting his seeking skills before he can say Mumma if I have anything to do with it.
Remus cleared his throat again. Seriously? And Tonks was pulled out of her thoughts, which had already begun to drift into the area of what the little bugger’s first quidditch robes would look like, and hmm, I wonder if they make shin guards that small?
“I’m sorry, did you have something to say Remus?” She asked with a seemingly superimposed smile and raised the mug to her lips once more.
“I’m sorry,” Remus confessed pathetically, shoulders drooped, eyes staring fixedly at the floorboards. Pathetic tosser couldn’t even be arsed to look her in the eye, how was that for an apology?
“Right,” Tonks snapped virulently. “Right.”
“I am,” Remus struggled. “I can’t describe how it feels to know how much trouble I’ve caused you.”
“Oh, that’s rich,” Tonks replied, just as bitterly, and then for emphasis, “Rich.”
“Nymphadora-”
“DON’T!” Tonks roared, leaping out of her chair at him. Remus ducked out of the way as Tonk’s favorite coffee mug very nearly became a permanent part of his skull.
“CALL ME-” A clear glass vase, along with a long stemmed white rose and a splash of water that it contained, was flung at him next. He leaned over just in time to miss the vase, but not the rose, and a rather vindictive thorn cut a deep, crimson line into his cheek as it whizzed by.
“NYMPHADORA!”
There was an explosion on each side of him, and Remus felt before he saw the slivers of glass that had been shattered from the china hutch and the curio cabinet piercing his skin.
“Oh Remus!” Tonks cried out, knocking the kettle off the table as she ran to him. Remus sat down on the floor and she examined his arm and the gash across his cheek. As if he needed another scar. He looked like a bleeding pin cushion, for Merlin’s sake. What had she done? “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to - pregnant - hormones. I couldn’t…Oh, bugger. Okay. Let me just-” She withdrew her wand from her back pocket and Remus cringed.
“Actually darling, I’d rather I-” He gave her an apologetic smile and took his own wand out from inside his coat pocket. Hundreds of tiny shards of glass slowly rose out of his arms, neck, and shoulders, as Remus muttered the healing charm to heal and seal the wounds. “There,” he said, smiling tenderly at her. “Never better.”
“I’m sorry,” she croaked, her cheeks already puffy and stained with tears.
“That’s what I’m supposed to say,” Remus palmed the curve of her jaw in his massive hand. Tonks could literally feel her mood swinging into something different, something less vindictive, and she leaned into his touch. She had always loved those hands, so rough, so large and protective. But she hadn’t forgotten what he had done to her.
“Are you?” She asked, gazing up into his brownish-gold eyes. “Are you really sorry and you’ll never do it again?”
Remus nodded and pressed his lips against hers. They were wet and he could taste the salt of her tears on her lips. He kissed them away, and kissed each eyelid, and kissed away the stray ones on her cheek. Tonks could literally feel the remorse surrounding Remus wash over her. Remus wanted her to forgive him more than anything, wanted her to know that he had been scared, stupid, but that he'd never leave her again, and more than anything, she wanted to believe him.
“You’re so beautiful,” Remus murmured, stretching his palm out over her expanding belly. “I cannot wait to meet our child, Dora.”
“I can’t believe you’re really back,” Tonks whispered, throwing her arms around his neck as she kissed him, kissed his lips, his cheeks, his ears, his forehead, his hair, his everything. She was sobbing again, but it was okay because they were happy tears, tears of joy and relief, and of pure, real happiness. Remus was back and they were going to have a baby and Harry was going to defeat Voldemort and they were going to be bloody great parents and everything was going to be O.K.
“I will never leave your side again, my love,” Remus murmured, pressing their foreheads together. “I promise. I will always be with you. No matter what.”
…..
…..
…..
…..
“You arse!” Tonks swung a translucent arm at Remus, highly annoyed when it only made his ethereal form ripple for a moment. “I can’t believe you - why did you do that!”
Remus only smiled as they floated away from their bodies and she really wanted to hit him, because that smile was even more beautiful in the afterlife and she really, really needed to be mad at him right now.
“I promised you, Nymphadora,” He said matter-of-factly, and she surprisingly found herself not caring that he was using her given name. “I promised you I would never leave your side again.”
“Remus,” Tonks stole one last glance at the castle as they drifted upward. “You - you arse.” She sniffled. “You didn’t have to do that…Teddy.”
“I know,” Remus’ smile faded and he took Tonks‘ hand in his own. “Don’t worry, love. I can’t think of a better godfather than Harry. He’ll watch out for him, and guide him through things, and we’ll be watching over him too, won’t we?”
Tonks nodded solemnly.
“And so will I,” a voice called from…somewhere, and it sounded oddly like Harry’s, but not quite.
“James?” Remus looked around, but the voice seemed to be coming from nowhere, and yet, everywhere.
“And me,” Another voice, belonging to her cousin, Sirius, assured them.
“And I,” a soft, feminine voice sang.
“Lily,” Remus smiled.
“Oi, what am I then, chop liver?”
“Fred!” Tonks shrieked gleefully.
“And I s’pose I’ll have to look after the little bugger as well,” Mad-Eye growled. “I hear the Dark Lord’s finally vanquished, but evil never rests, you know. Constant-”
“Mad-Eye!” Tonks rolled her eyes and laughed. The next voice that called out them, reassuring them that he, of course, would be watching over his grandson every second, nearly made Tonks cry, no matter that ghosts or spirits or whatever they were, couldn’t produce tears. Remus clasped her hand tightly in his own.
“Are you ready?” A familiar voice asked of them, and they both knew the man behind the voice would be wearing half-moon spectacles, his ethereal eyes still twinkling even in the afterlife.
Tonks looked up at Remus for guidance, but he only shook his head and smiled.
“I can’t help you make this decision,” He said. “It is yours to make and yours alone.” Tonks trembled and Remus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“Whatever you chose, Nymphadora, I will never leave your side. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. ”
Tonks looked into Remus eyes’ and put her hand to his face. “Thank you, Remus.”
Remus closed his eyes and pulled her against his chest.
“We’re ready, Albus.”