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

[true_marauder]

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

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[auror_aura]

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]

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]

"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]

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."

[platinum_witch]

(Just a bystander, but *whine* this made me get all teary. You guys are fantastic.)