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Remus stares, hypnotized by the flickering, seductive flames, until he feels a pair of arms slide around him. He leans back unconsciously, comforted by the soft warmth of an eager body pressed against him.

"Mmm," he says in quiet appreciation, allowing his head to drop back until it is resting against a shoulder. The hands caress his stomach lightly, and he sighs. He can feel a few wispy, slightly prickly spikes of hair pressed into his cheek, and he smiles. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a few strands of alternating palest pink, robin egg blue, and soft lavender, swirled together like fairy floss at a Muggle fair.

It is the most outrageous hair to date, and Remus finds he rather adores it.

"Watcha thinking about?" Tonks says, turning her face so she can brush her lips against his ear.

"You," Remus replies, and he only feels a tiny twinge of guilt.

But then, it was only a tiny lie.

If Tonks knows better, she says nothing of it, and Remus is thankful.

"I love you," he says suddenly, and Tonks's arms tighten around him. She buries her face against his neck and whispers against his flushed skin, "I love you too, Mo... Remus."

Remus tries not to tense up at Tonks's near-slip, but vivid memories of the night before come unbidden into his mind. He remembers the happy glow that seemed to surround Tonks like a halo as she explored every inch of him, the way her dark eyes widened in surprised pleasure, the soft sighs and silly giggles as they lay quietly together.

And then he remembers, hours later, the look on her face when she -- in a fit of passion or madness, he isn't sure which -- called him Moony. And he remembers the way she cried when he flung her away, the horrible guilt that washed over him when the color literally slipped away from her, leaving her skin pale and her hair mousy brown.

But then he thinks of the surge of love he felt when, after her tears were dry, she turned to him and said wryly, "Well, I guess that solves that mystery, dunnit?"

"You know," Tonks says, her voice luring him back into the present, "it's alright for you to think about him."

"What?" Remus says, but his voice is hoarse and he knows there's no use trying to fool her anyway.

"It's okay to miss him, Remus. It's okay to wish he were still here." She pauses for a moment, and her embrace grows momentarily so tight Remus can hardly breath. And then with a shaking but determined voice, she says, "It's okay to wish you were with him now, instead of me."

The tears come before Remus can check them, dripping hot and fast down his cheeks and soaking the collar of his robes. Tonks presses soft kisses along his jaw and rocks him gently, muttering soothing nonsense over his skin.

"I don't," he says finally, reaching for her hand and pulling her around to kneel in front of him. "I don't wish that at all. I miss Sirius. Every minute of every day, and I reckon I always will. I loved him. I loved him then. I love you now. And now is all we have, Tonks. It's all we're promised, and it's all we can hope for. You're my now."

"Thank you," she whispers. Her eyes are full of tears too, but her face is open and beautiful and strong, and he knows that in spite of all the wandering he's done, he's finally found his way home.