we are a low word count, any level of experience rp set in harry's 3rd year at hogwarts. students and adults alike are welcome! given we are set fairly early in the series, everything that happens from this point on will be up to us! perhaps sirius black will be cleared and peter arrested, or perhaps something darker lurks in the shadows...
The full moon. He had gone to Severus to get some wolfsbane potion for the day, but apparently someone had ‘stolen’ some and he had no more to give him, so he would just have to deal with a usual transformation. He requested that Severus take over his classes while he was preparing for this moon. He disappeared from school, finding his way to the Shrieking Shack early in the morning of the moon itself, to get it ready.
However, as he spent almost an hour there alone preparing, he found himself dwelling on too many memories. He could almost see Sirius running around a corner in his dog form but when he chased it he didn’t find anything. So, he apparated to his little cottage he barely could afford and spent the night there like he normally did.
Day 2
Nothing.
Day 3
He woke up in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, completely bandaged up. He met with Madame Pomfrey who had told anyone who came by Remus had gone to the forest to gather supplies for a lesson and was attacked by an animal there and had been rushed here when Hagrid found him. He didn’t like the idea of blaming an innocent animal when he had done it himself. He hid most of the bandages, so it didn’t look too bad. Luckily Madame Pomfrey limited how much anyone had seen him prior to this. She seemed to understand his privacy was important to him.
Day 4
He was starting to heal up a bit, the scratches on his face still bandaged but doing not too bad. Luckily he had gotten a book thanks to Dumbledore sending it while he slept last night and he was currently reading it in his bed. He was told he would be let out later this evening. However, apparently news spread at this school fairly fast. He had been visited by Harry and several other students already saying they were happy that he was going to return to class in a bit.
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 11, 2018 22:44:50 GMT
Had she been avoiding him? Maybe. Had he been avoiding her? Definitely.
But when news swooped through the school that he was in the hospital wing looking a little worse for wear. Well. She could avoid no more, as the protective, and the very much in love girl, rose up within her. Rose actually encouraged it, though Tonks was anxious on how he would react. Hopefully not too badly.
She stepped into the infirmary, Madam Promfrey eying her and sighing, waving a hand directing her to where Remus was.
It was honestly time to face the music. In more than one way.
She stepped around the curtain partitioning his little section from the rest of the wig and sat down on the stool. She was silent for the moment, not sure how to begin.
The instant Tonks had entered the hospital wing he looked up at her with the look of a deer in some headlights. He quickly set the book to the side and hid his bandaged hands, pulling the covers up as far as he could to cover as much of himself as possible.
“Dora.” He looked at her with a look plastered with longing while he tried very hard to hide it. Swallowing he clenched a fist under the covers, leaning against the pillow. He still had a bandage on his right cheek and one above his eye showing. All of these were going to leave scars, just like all wounds inflicted by werewolves – after all he had nothing to calm him and he ended up attacking himself. For some reason it was worse this time. As if his self-loathing had gotten to an all time high and he punished himself for it.
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 11, 2018 23:07:23 GMT
Her lips twitched with a response, but she bit her bottom lip as she looked at him, a knowing look in her eyes. She sighed, everything Rose had told her coming to mind. It would not do to look upon him in pity. Oh, but she was worried and her heart clenched, she reached out a shaking hand, her bottom lip sucked between he teeth to keep herself from shedding the tears she wanted to shed.
"Why else would you think I'm here," her eyes locked with his as she ran a gentle touch over the bandages over his cheek. "Moony."
The nickname dropped softly from her lips and she leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his lips, lingering barely a moment. "How could I have forgotten?"
Her lips trembled as she smiled at him. Her hand still on his cheek. "I'm here because I want to be. Because I love you. I'm here because I should be."
He closed his eyes accepting the kiss with a small smile that quickly faded when he realized what was going on. Shaking his head his fist released and he quickly looked away, turning his whole body away from her like a stubborn child mad at their parents.
“You should be out there looking for Sirius.” What was with that name? Where did she hear it from? There were so few people alive anymore who knew that. Sirius. And Rose really. That’s what it must’ve been. “Rose told you about that name, didn’t she?” He hid his face to hide the sadness of thinking of his friends. Thinking of what that name meant for him. The history of it. These moons were his punishment for playing human before. The worse the moons were, the more punishment he was going to face.
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 11, 2018 23:53:47 GMT
"No," she said softly, shaking her head, fighting the sigh as he turned away. "Sirius did, inadvertently. A long time ago. Just after your sister was attacked, actually. He'd come round, one time, he looked so worried. It'd been a long time since he looked so worried."
"You should have more faith in your sister, you know," she chided softly. "She may be more reckless about her identity. But she respects your feelings when it comes to yours."
Another sigh, "regardless. It doesn't change anything about how I feel."
He covered his head with the sheets, though she could see his hands twisting up in them. He wanted to just pull the sheet off and kiss her and tell her how he felt about her. He wanted to be happy with her. But there was still so much holding him back. Tears holding back from spilling from his eyes right now based on his emotions and the pain in his body as he still needed to heal up, so he could go back to teaching tomorrow. Straining his muscles to try to hold onto himself, well that wasn’t helping too much.
“It should. Stick around me and next time this won’t be just me, it’ll be you. Or worse. Stick with me, and you’ll end up like everyone else who hung around me: James, Lily, Peter, Sirius, Rose.” He did care about her – a little too much. He didn’t want to hurt her, and he didn’t trust himself of all people.
“I’m not blind either, Dora. I can see her laying down hints for you. Because she thinks that if you knew things would be better. But they aren’t. The more who know the more likely everyone will find out, Dora. I can’t – I’m going to have to resign.”
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 12, 2018 0:45:39 GMT
Tonks sighed, shaking her head. She understood now why Rose was in such a tough spot. "Well, you can't blame her entirely for this one. Sirius gave you away all those years ago. Can't believe I forgot, but the fact is. I don't care."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Though, I can't blame her either. You're downing so much in your self-pity you can't see how much she cares for you, or you won't accept it. She wanted help. There are something things she just can't prove to you, being your sister."
She heaved a great sigh. "You're not going to have to resign. I still need you here to catch Sirius. Ever since he supposedly broke in, it's been oddly quiet. Like he's slipped back out already, it was strange... that he didn't set off any of my devices. I do hope that The Fat Lady is restored soon, Sir Cadogan is causing Gryffindor all sorts of headache."
she reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. "However, in regards to you thinking you're protecting me by pushing me away, you'll find I'm much more resilient than Rose. You won't shake me as easily. If you're going to fight against this, well, I'm just going to have to fight too."
There was a slight wetness that appeared on the sheets, it appeared he had let some of those tears out and accidentally use the sheet to wipe his eyes. There was so much he wanted to do and say but he couldn’t do any of it and he knew it. The temptation was too real, too much, but the consequences were worse.
“They said they didn’t care either. Sirius sold me out – sold all of our friends out. James, Lily, Peter, they’re dead. And unless you’re going to betray me too, he’ll – if not him, then someone else. People like me, Dora, they’re hunted down and hated. You would be too if anyone found out what I was. You would be hunted down and killed.”
He relaxed into her touch for just a bit before moving away from her touch. If he just accepted it, he’d be sucked in again. “We can’t be together. I’ll distract you from your job. You could lose your job. You’re so young, there’ll be so many other men, whole men, men who won’t drag you down that will come along. Just forget me. Move on with your life.”
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 12, 2018 3:45:59 GMT
"Remus," she said, scoffing slightly. "It's my job to be hunted down and hated. In fact, it's easier if they do all the work that way, instead of me having to hunt them down."
She frowned, however, he had been through so much he just couldn't trust himself around other people. It's a no wonder Rose was stressed out.
Surprisingly, when Moody heard about Sirius getting in and what she had been doing at the time of the break-in, he had laughed. The following several hours tooth-and-comb search of the castle was very tense, but no one blamed her. Apparently, someone knew something that no one was informed of her because it was almost like no one was surprised he had found a way in undetected. Especially from McGonagall. She had looked worried, but it hadn't been for her students. She was picking up on other clues that were just not adding up to the expectation of the situation.
"I'm not going to lose my job for dating you, Remus. That's silly. And I'm aware of all of those other things, but, I still want you, regardless. And bring on all those people who would kill me for my choice of lovers. It'll give me a reason to blast them out of existence, just as they did my family, just because my parents got married."
Her eyes had hardened with a determined intensity.
Remus let out a shaky breath unsure of how to convince her of something right in front of her face and yet she didn’t seem to see it. He didn’t understand how she could think she’d be just fine when everyone he had ever cared about either died or became like him. She could see the bandage on his face, and he was sure she could guess about his other injuries. Sometimes he just wanted it to end, to end forever, but he also knew he had a job he had to do, and he was afraid of dying as well. He didn’t want to even though there was so much pain in his life but that didn’t mean he occasionally thought about it. As long as he lived, he wanted to try to make himself useful in case they ever needed to fight again. He needed to be able to fight in the name of his friends who were no long there.
Better to be interrupted than sorry, he quickly cast a Muffiliato charm so anyone on the other side of the curtain wouldn’t really hear what they were talking about. He figured that was a smart idea - after all they were talking about sensitive information.
“No, Dora,” He clenched his fists again and then sat up a little to fast, flinching and holding himself around his middle, the move having revealed his chest all bandaged up, with one particularly nasty one that would leave a large scar across his chest. He quickly pulled the sheets back up not wanting her to see, but likely it was too late. “You’re meant to be loved, and respect for taking in… monsters like me. I’m a danger to everyone around me and myself. I deserve a cell in Azkaban for what I am. What I could do. To protect others from me.”
He lifted a hand to her cheek and looked to her with a sad face. “You deserve to live your life, a happy life without being tied down to a creature that is – essentially kill on sight. No one else knows yet what I am, but it won’t be long before they figure it out. This position is cursed, something is going to happen to me before the year is up that will force me to leave the school. Either I’ll die or -” He paused not wanting to consider the fact he could die in this search for Sirius, but he had understood the risk when he took the job. “Dora, I’m too old. We’re thirteen years apart – I could almost be your father, though not quite. I’m too poor. I can never hold down a job for longer than a few months because of this, and people finding out what I am. And if it becomes public knowledge, then I would barely be able to support myself. I’m too dangerous. I could kill you without knowing until I woke up the next day.”
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 12, 2018 12:48:57 GMT
She had moved instantly when he sat up and as expected, slightly too fast, her hands at his shoulders to steady him, careful of the new gashes across his skin. Her eyes indeed had caught them, but it didn't matter. It would never matter. The man before her deserved love and happiness, and by golly, if there was anyone to give it to him it would be her. It was going to be a long journey she knew, but as she had told Rose before, she was prepared for it.
"You're not a monster, Remus. Monsters are people who do bad things. You don't do bad things. That's a given, shown at how much you want to hide away yourself. Unrelentingly protective of those you care about, even if it hurts them because you've got the idea it's better to push them away. That person who saved me from eating cobble when I tripped in the hall does not deserve a cell in Azkaban. You do everything you can to keep from falling victim to your curse. However, you are falling victim to the curse of the stigmas, which like for every half-creature in this world, has. You saw how Rose acted when she learned she was a Succubus and you talked her right out of that, didn't you? What bad person would do that? Greyback was a bad person, who did a terrible thing to a good person. You and your sister. He's a coward who attacks children only because they can't defend themselves!"
If there was any person or creature in this world, that she wanted to throw into Azkaban, short of Voldemort; it would be Greyback. But he was always able to slip through their fingers. No one knew where his stomping grounds were to apprehend him either. But now, within all this, seeing Rose, seeing Remus; she couldn't sit on her hands any longer on it. The ministry needed to do something about him, hell, if the Order ever dug itself back out of the ground, she would gladly join that too, and then they would take him out. She would personally see to it. Him and his disgusting cronies.
She placed a hand on his cheek in return, brushing her thumb over his cheek. She knew about the position being cursed, so it was inevitable that something would happen. What? Who knew. But it would be something. She knew he was going to fight on this, every step of the way. She knew she was going to be resilient. He had trust issues, she had to show that she wasn't going anywhere, regardless of how he was trying to scare her away. Both her hands were on his cheeks now, getting him to focus his eyes on hers, effectively locking him there.
"You're just not seeing it. I made a decision that night after we first met. That I would have you, whatever it took. I will tell you, and I will tell you a thousand times, here, now, in the future and forever; Remus Lupin, I love you. I don't care about your age, or money, or your curse. I care about you. I care about the you who was so angry at his parents at their absolute failure to protect their daughter, from being cursed - like you - that you wanted to take her away too. I care about the you who decided against that. I care about the you who is looking at me right now, right here. I'm here to stay, you silly man. No matter what you do to try and shake me. You can hide all you like and I'll give you that, but it's not going to change anything. And as for that last item on your list of excuses, you have a perfectly amicable solution to that, if you just accepted it."
She was close, her lips a breath away from his. She wanted to seal the connection so badly, but the situation caused her pause. She wanted him to make that move here. To hopefully accept her declarations. Truth was, he probably wouldn't, no matter how much it was tempted in front of him, held in front of his face. He was too prideful to let his guard down for even a moment.
"Take a chance on me, Remus. Take a chance on your sister, who loves you so dearly. You'll find being whole is easy to obtain that way."
Remus did agree with the fact Greyback deserved prison. Even more than he did. Even more than Sirius did and knowing how bad things were with him, that was saying something. It was people like Grtback that made things so much harder than they could be. Without him around there would be so much more light in other werewolves lives. Not his because he knew it would take more than that because he knew he was already a lost cause.
”Dora I -“ He swallowed looking at her so close to him. There were so many things she was saying that were right, could she be so right and also so wrong on other things? He wanted to - to take that chance so badly but he was afraid. He was frozen with fear and hoped that not acting would solve things on their own. That she’d go and fall for someone else, someone better and easy to deal with and things would be solved. And yet she was still here persisting after three months.
He knew he had made his choice the instant he met her. He was still fighting himself but he had made it. It would be so easy to just give up. To just be happy and stop standing in the way of happiness even if it were just temporary.
Taking in a deep breath he leaned the rest of the way in, kissing her lips gently, not one of those passionate kisses hey had shared before, a sweeter, timid kiss that only lasted a second. ”If something happens I’m going to tell both of you I told you so.”
Post by Nymphadora Tonks on Jul 13, 2018 1:03:24 GMT
"I'll take full responsibility," she replied, sealing the kiss more firmly but only for a quick moment, least Madam Pomfrey came over and started shouting.
After pressing a kiss onto his forehead, she settled back onto the stool next to his bed. Now that the emotionally charged moment was past, she took a second to evaluate herself. She was elated, giddy beyond belief. It was almost how insane how strangely she felt for this man before her. Looking to the salve next to her she smiled, "now that I've got you listening, can I talk to you about something? While I patch you up?"
Well that didn’t bode well. There was so many things he had done wrong over the course of the few months they knew each other and given how close she was to Rose, there was probably a myriad of things that she wanted to talk about and he couldn’t decide what it was.
