James!

"Remus, I just don't understand!" said Tonks, her pink hair almost wilting as she looked at me, her face lined with worry and confusion.

"It's all right, Nymph," I said. "I just...I think we're..." I struggled for the right words.

Tonks sniffled a little. "But we...I don't..."

"It's complicated," I said. I couldn't believe I had just said that, but after knowing James so well in school, it was natural that I might pick up on some of his old break-up lines.

"But...but..."

It had started innocently enough. I invited Nymphadora Tonks to dinner with me. We had flirted a little, and I did feel a bit of attraction towards her. But then I spent some more time with her. And some more time. And suddenly, Tonks's pink hair wasn't nearly as attractive as it had once been--it almost hurt my eyes. But how to break it off?

"I'm sorry," I said.

Tonks looked up at me, her eyes swollen and red. "It's something to do with being a werewolf, isn't it?"

"Er...yeah..." I said, thinking quickly. "It's just too...too dangerous." That'd have to work. James always said to take whatever material she gave you and use it for your cause.

"I don't care!"

"Er..." I patted her arm tentatively. "I'm sorry," I said again. "I just can't put you at risk like this. It's not...not practical."

"Practical!" said Tonks in contempt. "It doesn't matter what's practical and what's not. Remus, what matters is..."

"Dumbledore," I said--I hadn't really been listening to her words. I'd been brainstorming. "Dumbledore has a task for me. I won't be able to see you for months."

"What?" said Tonks, dumbfounded. "But I think he'd've told--"

"He just assigned it to me," I said. "I'll be with the other werewolves." Really, Dumbledore had offered me this mission a couple weeks ago, but I had declined, thinking of how much I'd miss human contact. But with Tonks clinging to my arm at every available chance...I'd rather face the werewolves.

"Oh, Remus!" she cried, throwing herself into my arms. "What'll we do?"

I bit back a snort. "It'll be okay."

"I'll wait for you."

"No!" I bit his tongue. "No, Tonks, don't. Don't waste life. We never know who else we might meet..."

"I'm just relieved to know that this is all because of some mission," she said, sitting up and cuddling in next to him. "I was so scared that you...I mean..."

Damn it. She's not letting this go.

-

I sat there next to Bill's bed, not really seeing, letting this news of Snape sink in. I wondered how James would feel to know that all this time it was that large shnozzled-git who had sold him and his wife to Voldemort.

The door opened and I looked up, startled. Arthur and Molly--of course. They had come to see Bill. I stood up immediately, as did Tonks. She had, of course, ended up sitting next to me--it had been the first time in months we had seen each other. I was a little alarmed that her hair was dark and her appearance drab--so different from the lively girl I used to know. A little too lively...a little too clingy...

A girl followed the Weasley couple, looking quite beautiful, even with her frightened expression. Molly kissed Bill's forehead and started asking questions. Suddenly the blonde girl--Bill's girlfriend, I guessed--began arguing against Molly--something about the girl not wanting to marry Bill--but the girl wanted to--Oh crap. Please don't let Tonks--

The girl and Molly began hugging and crying, and then what I had dreaded most of all--

"You see!" I looked over at Tonks, and she was glaring ferociously. I winced. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"

Crap. Must we make this public? I thought furiously. Where was someone to interrupt? Damn, I miss James, he was good at this. "It's different," I said slowly, trying not to move my mouth too much. Maybe no one would notice...? "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely--"

"But I don't care either, I don't care!" She seized the front of my robes and shook me. I bit my tongue again, trying to stop my clenching fists.

We continued to argument a little, attracting everyone's attention in the room. I wanted to kill myself. And Arthur even stood up for Tonks--damn it, the world was against me.

Tonks beamed at me, and I inwardly groaned. There just wasn't any way out of this. Damn you, Snape and your overgrown beak. I needed James.