Prompt 21
Title: Temptation
Author:
OHGinnyfan
Format & Word Count: Ficlet, Word Count = 664
Rating: PG - more for implication than anything
Prompt: Prompt 21 - "Tempt not a desperate man." - William Shakespeare
Warning: fluff ahoy!
Summary: Remus Lupin never considered himself a desperate man. But watching Tonks from across the room may change his mind about that.
Author's Note Unbeta’d - mistakes are completely mine. My Muse had to really be rustled up to get anything written. She’s still mocking me over Prompt 14.
Remus Lupin never considered himself a desperate man. He might have had desires over the years, but he had never thought of himself as desperate for anyone’s love or attention. He was, thanks to his condition, a loner at heart and he had been for ages.
But watching Tonks laugh and smile from across the room made him realize how much he desired the younger woman. She was, after all was said and done, a lovely person both inside and out. And one who treated him genuinely and truly liked him for whom he was. She was working her own brand of magic to convince him that he shouldn’t be alone in this world, no matter what.
They had, over the course of the last few months, being playing a game of flirting with each other. He couldn’t wrap his mind around any reason as to why she’d be remotely attracted to him, but he was definitely enjoying the fact that she was. And he was as equally attracted to her. He was, however, concerned for her safety - dating a werewolf did come with its risks - so he had not yet acted upon his feelings. He felt quite certain, though, if he didn’t act soon, she would.
His eyes floated back to where she stood, talking animatedly with Kingsley and Bill, her arms moving as fast as her mouth, knocking her drink over in the process. She laughed again, as she cleaned up the mess and glanced over at Remus, smiling and winking as she caught his eye. He saw her excuse herself from the men and make her way across the crowded floor towards him. He felt the smile on his face grow larger with each step she took closer to him.
“Come her often?” she said, grinning innocently at him. Their banter was always light, yet both knew what the other truly wanted.
“Yes, quite often, actually. Since it’s Order headquarters. And I live here. Are you alone tonight, Tonks?”
“I always come alone, Remus; it’s just I always hope to leave with someone,” she replied with a bit of a sultry tone to her voice.
“And who do you hope to leave with?” Remus asked, moving a step closer to her, whispering the question more so than asking.
Tonks moved in even closer, until they were almost, but not quite, touching. Looking up through her dark eyelashes, she replied, “You, silly. I hope to leave with you.”
Remus smiled. “A great Muggle author once said, ‘Tempt not a desperate man.’ Are you tempting me, Tonks?” he said, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise.
“Perhaps I am, Remus. Are you desperate?”
Remus swallowed. Was he desperate? He would never want Tonks to feel like he was acting out of desperation to be with her, but rather out of his want and need. As he looked down at her pretty, heart-shaped face, his sense of nobility warred with his sense of desire. His mind warring with his heart. He wanted to protect her, but he knew that she was a grown woman and an Auror, and she knew how to take care of herself. If she wanted a relationship with him, was it right for him to try and stop it, just to protect her? As he studied her in that brief moment, smelling her perfume, playing her words and her voice over and over in his head, he realized it was a lost cause. His heart was winning. And if that made him a desperate man - a man with feeling who wanted nothing more than to be tempted by the woman of his dreams - well, then, by Merlin, he was desperate.
He grinned at her and winked, and he was rewarded with a brilliant smile from her. “I think, perhaps, I am desperate, Tonks. Where shall we go off to?”
“Take me home, Remus,” she said, wrapping her arms around him, leading him to the door of Grimmauld Place. “Take me home.”