Comments | true_marauder: Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you're strong enough to let go.

true_marauder

Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you're strong enough to let go.

Oct 20, 2009 17:33

The water was hot enough to turn his skin red and burn the cuts on his hands, but he didn't adjust the temperature. He felt dirty, not just from five days without bathing, but from all he had seen and all he had understood. All the reading and interviews in the world couldn't prepare him for what a pack of werewolves was really like; the ( Read more... )

timeline: order of the pheonix, role play, featuring: nymphadora tonks

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

auror_aura October 21 2009, 01:30:54 UTC

She'd expected him to come to her right away when he got back. Instead, she'd had to hear secondhand from Molly Weasley that Remus had returned, and that only because he'd refused to stay at the Burrow.

Tonks had no idea what it meant, that he hadn't seen her. Maybe he was worried what she'd think; maybe he was hurt and didn't want her to worry about that. But she was worried all the same, because the last time she'd seen him he'd told her not to wait. At the time, she'd just assumed he was being pessimistic about his chances for survival, but he was back now, and still alive, but he'd chosen not to see her.

So she'd found out from Dumbledore where he was staying, and here she was, and there he was at the door.

"Remus." She stepped inside as he took a step or two back. There were so many things she could say, so many things she probably ought to comment on, like where he was staying, why wasn't he staying with her, or at the Burrow? Or how he looked, or... well, anything.

"Oh Remus," she said, and that was all she could say just

true_marauder October 21 2009, 02:09:50 UTC

For all that he had expected the knock on the door to signal the arrival of take away curry, he wasn't surprised to see her. Though he had not sent her news of his return, or location, he hadn't asked Molly or Dumbledore to keep mum on the subject either. Maybe, subconsciously, he had known that he needed to see her.

"Dora." He took in her bright coloured hair, her worried but still sparkling eyes, her youth, and contrasted it to the dingy room with the stained wallpaper and the rumpled bed where he'd slept for a few fitful hours. And that was nothing to the filth that he'd come from. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, as much to hide the cuts and bruises as to restrain himself from grabbing her and pulling her to him and never letting go.

"I..." But he was at a loss for what to say.

auror_aura October 21 2009, 02:49:17 UTC

"You didn't come to see me," she finally said, her brow furrowed with concern. "I brought your wand..."

She pulled it out of her robes and offered it to him, stepping closer.

true_marauder October 21 2009, 03:09:29 UTC

The wand is both achingly familiar and painfully foreign. Like her. Both are part of the same world, both are part of him, and yet when he reaches for the wand it is a tentative move, as if it might bite. Or burn.

"I... I needed some sleep first." Needed some time and space to separate there from her. "I was going to let you know after."

auror_aura October 21 2009, 03:27:12 UTC

She took another step forward, reaching out to touch his face.

"You could've slept at my flat, sweetheart. It's a far sight nicer than this place."

true_marauder October 21 2009, 03:48:37 UTC

He can't help leaning into the touch a little, instinct reacting before thought.

"Nice enough that you don't want half the forest floor tracked through the place," he tried to joke.

auror_aura October 21 2009, 03:50:51 UTC

"You know that wouldn't matter. I'm pretty good with a Scourgify."

She moved closer still, wrapping her arms around him and leaning their foreheads together. "You should've come right to me. You know I was worried."

true_marauder October 21 2009, 04:07:32 UTC

"I didn't want to make you worry. But I couldn't - it's not just the forest, it's that place. I couldn't bring any of that place into your home." She was so close, and even when he closed his eyes he could feel her, sense her mouth so close to his. He wanted to kiss her, and knew that he shouldn't. it would only make things harder.

auror_aura October 21 2009, 04:11:50 UTC

She didn't have any such thoughts, so she did kiss him, almost chastely. "That doesn't matter. You're all right, that's what matters."

true_marauder October 21 2009, 04:39:29 UTC

It took everything in him not to deepen the kiss, and even then he might have lost his inner battle if not for the knock on the door. Dinner, which he paid for with muggle money, practically slamming the door in the delivery boys face.

"Hungry?" he offered before opening one of the take out boxes and and gulping down half a dozen curry covered chips without much chewing in a very atypical way. But for a moment filling his empty stomach took precedence over most everything, even his deeply ingrained manners. He took a few more bites before looking at her.

"I am alright. I know you worried about me not having the Wolfsbane, but it wasn't so bad having so much area to run in."

auror_aura October 21 2009, 04:49:38 UTC

She shook her head at his offer of food. "Already ate, but thanks. You go on."

She watched him, her face not disgusted or annoyed, but merely concerned as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"I'm glad. I didn't want you getting hurt." She paused a moment, looking down at her hands. "Come back to my flat with me," she murmured. "I've missed you." It had only been five days, but she had been so worried and that combined with missing him had caused a painful ache inside her that prevented her from sleeping much, and she had no idea how she was going to get along without him for possibly months at a time, as she knew he might have to do.

true_marauder October 21 2009, 05:20:40 UTC

After a few more bites the hunger pains subsided, and knowing all too well the dangers of eating too much too fast he set down the container and cleaned his hands off on a napkin.

"I can't." when she made the offer he could almost see her flat, see them together on the couch or in the kitchen. In the bed. It would be easy to slip back into that and forget everything except for in his nightmares.

"I only came back for a day or two, to make reports and set some things in order. I'm leaving the day after tomorrow, after Harry's birthday."

auror_aura October 21 2009, 05:23:44 UTC

"Stay with me until then," Tonks said promptly. "I want you nearby, even if it's only for a day." She reached out for him again, because he looked like he needed contact as much as she did.

true_marauder October 21 2009, 05:33:55 UTC

I'll give you a day, a year, a lifetime, he wants to promise. But he can't, and only shakes his head. "There's no reason to stretch this out, make it harder then it has to be."

His skin was starving for her touch, even more then his stomach needed food. But he could still feel the dirt on him.

auror_aura October 21 2009, 05:37:21 UTC

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frowning, she ran her hands over his shoulders and down his back. "I can give you nice things to think about when you're away."

true_marauder October 21 2009, 05:48:57 UTC

Oh Merlin, she's so close, and he's so close to his breaking point. If he just moved a little to the left he could pull her down with him, onto the bed, and they could forget everything but each other. In the bed of a dirty motel, like a cheap one night stand. Sod all.

"It means that this is the bloody Ritz compared to were I'm going, and I can't afford to have nice things to think about, making it harder. And you deserve better then this."

Back to all threads