Young Girl

11- Maybe

«Just a short one»

Remus's POV-

Sirius watched me like a hawk for the next couple of days, analysing my every move. Even when I was just sat in the study on my own, reading a book, he would come and sit with me. It did start to get slightly annoying after a couple of incidents and I had been forced to shout more times than were cared to be admitted. Tonks still hadn't woken up, she'd been in a coma for three days and, to be perfectly honest, I was starting to lose hope. Even waking up after a couple of minutes was hit and miss, after thirty six hours, the chance was frighteningly slim. We hadn't been allowed to see her, only her parents, Snape, Albus and several specialised Healers could enter. Her house had been made as secure as we could get it, and she was never left alone. They had considered moving her to St Mungos, but there was almost no chance she would survive apparation or Flooing. Once or twice, they said she flatlined, and that just showed how freakishly real the war was becoming and how much worse it could get.

At midnight, me and Sirius were still hoping for good news, but none came, so he decided that it would be a good idea to give me The Chat. He was sat opposite me at the kitchen table, had been so for the past half hour, studying my face. I was well aware of it, but decided best to ignore him so he didn't get any encouragement. The others were out, so we had the whole of Grimmauld Place between us and Kreacher. It was quiet, but if the worst came -which I expected it to- the mood ought to be sombre.

"I don't mind if you like Dora you know." He interrupted suddenly, making me jump at first, but it was quickly followed by a dark red blush. I put the Daily Prophet and my glass of firewhisky down with a sigh, looking across at him. He was leaning back on his chair, a smug smile plastered across his mouth.

"I don't know what you're on about." I said calmly, though the burning I felt on my face obviously told a different story. He was taking every opportunity to embarrass me that he could get his hands on, he seemed to find who I had a crush on as his business, which of course it wasn't. It took me a moment to realise just how rubbish the excuse was, so I quickly retried, "Besides, I don't want to talk about it."

"I think you do." He said slyly, still watching me closely for any interesting reaction, "Come on Moony, it's bloody obvious you're completely smitten with her. Amused, maybe once. Impressed, certainly. I've seen the way you look at her whenever she comes back from a mission without so much as a scratch. But now, don't bother denying it, you're besotted with my little cousin."

"Is it that obvious?" I blurted out before I could stop myself, making him howl with laughter. I blushed, if possible, even darker, giving me resemblance to a Weasley. Once more I tried to talk my way out of it, but it just ended up even worse, "I don't mean it like that, it's just that... that umm... yeah."

Sirius continued to howl, he ended up completely hysterical, crying on the floor. It lasted for about a minute, ages but regrettably not quite long enough for my practically neon blush to die down. Eventually, he pulled himself back into his seat, clawing at the table because his muscles had gone weak.

"Is it obvious?" He panted, wiping away a tear of laughter, "You're always staring at her, you blush every time she walks in the room. You always pick up on what she's wearing, grin from ear to ear when you have the same mission. I'll say it's blooming obvious mate! But I'll say this; when you both finally face facts and get together..."

"Which we won't because I'm a freak and could hurt her. I would never be able to deal with myself if she got hurt and it was my fault." I cut across him sharply.

"Shut up I'm talking." He snapped briefly, but it was soon replaced by a cheeky grin, "As I was saying, when you finally get together; you have to ask my permission when you want to propose or something like that. Agreed?" I choked on the mouthful of firewhisky I had just drunk and sprayed it all over him, but he just carried on, "She's my little cousin and is worth everything. If you ever mess her around, I'll kill you. Alright? And when the kids come, I expect them to have good manners but also be born pranksters ready to take over the baton of Hogwarts. Yes?"

"I don't want that!" I cried out, "And you know I wouldn't play someone over like that. That's what you did. You know I can never have children because of my condition, it's a curse, not a joke Sirius. And of course I know she's worth more than that! I'm the one in love with her!"

"Sirius!" I froze as I heard Andromeda Tonks's desperate voice came from the hallway, followed closely by her footsteps. She appeared in the room a couple of seconds later and thankfully didn't look like she'd heard anything of our previous conversation. Her face was pale and she looked like she didn't know whether to smile or cry. I immediately jumped to the worst conclusion, assuming Tonks wasn't going to make it.

"Dromeda." He gasped, jumping to his feet and knocking his chair back, "How's Dots?" I smiled inwardly at the nickname he had for her but my adrenaline was rising too high to speak aloud. It was an adorable and affectionate name but if he ever used it in front of her, she would get more than a bit angry, which was scary. Very scary.

"Her hearts gone back up and she's starting to twitch a bit more. The Healers say it's either her waking up or her body having one last try before she dies." She said as quickly as the words would fall from her mouth, her dark brown hair that so resembled Bellatrix's a complete mess. A breath caught in my mouth, the second time in a week I'd heard someone say that the girl I finally admitted I was in love with might not pull through.