As True As Love Can Get: A Tupin Fan Fiction

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tonks

"Remus, what is it you found? Sirius said you saw Greyback?"

I'm genuinely concerned for him right now. It was only this morning he seemed to be in high spirits. Now he paces the kitchen rapidly. The dark shadows bend over him like a blanket causing him to look quite a few years older. Right now we are waiting for just two more of the order to turn up. He continues pacing, seemingly unaware of my concern, and questions.

"Hey, Remus. C'mon..." I say spinning him around to face me. "Stop walking about and answer me. Now, what is it you found, and did you really see Greyback?" "I told you, I don't know what I found. And yes... I did," He turns and continues to pace.

"But, Remus!" I say as I jog forward to keep up with his fast moving feet. I try and keep pace with him and it proves to be difficult because of his long stride. "What..." He asks with a little frown peeking across his face. "I- I don't know what happened, or what you saw, but you need to calm down." I say. "I know but I can't!" Remus sounds a little exasperated now.

"Hey," I put my hand on his shoulder, partly to stop myself from stumbling over him, and partly to comfort him. "-we'll figure this out, alright? Now, I don't want any more nervous pacing from you. Just come sit down."

I take his hand and lead him to the table. His hand feels warm in mine. But it's also shaking. I look up at him and smile, giving his hand a quick squeeze before letting it drop. I take the seat next to him, and not a second later Severus and Minerva enter the kitchen. Mad-Eye takes a seat clearing his throat.

"Remus, has made a discovery of sorts earlier this afternoon." He gestures at Remus to begin his story. He looks over at me before beginning. I nod at him.

"Earlier today, I came across the path of Greyback. As many of you already know, thanks to Sirius, I followed his path to a camp site of sorts... And while looking around, stumbled across what you see here." He gestures to a piece of parchment, and a small parcel.

"Mad-Eye, do you think it safe to open the parcel?" He asks. "The wrappings are protected against my sight, but I think it's safe enough to open. Be careful." Remus takes the package in hand as if it were a dragon egg, about to burst open and breathe flames on him. The wrappings tear away to reveal a vile. In it an assortment of what appears to be herbs, and small plants.

Remus hands it over to Mad-Eye. He takes it and after shortly examining it, passes the vile to Severus. "This seems to be your area of expertise. Would you mind filling us in?" Moody grunts. "This appears to contain the rarer ingredients needed to brew veritaserum. But also a few necessary for the wolfsbane potion."

Severus turns to Mad-Eye. "If I were to guess, I would say that they were not only looking for some sort of valuable information, but also creating werewolves."

"Remus, pass along the parchment you found." Moody says. "The people on the list here, I need full profiles on them as soon as possible Kingsley." "It would seem so." Kingsley says slipping the parchment into his robe.

"Does anyone have anything to add?" Mad-Eye asks. "What exactly are we going to do about this?" Sirius asks him.

"I plan on sending a team out to track Greyback, and when those profiles get back, to track down the persons in question as well. We need people following them, watching them, all the time."

The rest of the time is spent discussing strategy, and as the meeting disbands, I have a lot to think about. Most everyone has left, only Remus, Mad-Eye and I plan on staying for dinner. I can tell even though the meeting is over, that Remus is still anxious.

"Well, we've got some work to do." I say trying to make conversation. "Mhmm." He responds. Okay guess i'll approach this head on. "You mind telling me what happened out there? You're obviously still troubled about something, so you might as well get it out."

"Look Tonks," he says. "Maybe some other time. Right now, I just need to calm down. I need something to get my mind off of it." I place my hand on his and look in his eyes trying to decipher the feelings behind them. Nothing, not that I understand. Why does he have to be so hard to read. I pull my eyes away, let my hand drop back to my side and sigh.

"Thanks..." Remus says. He says it so quietly I think maybe I could've been dreaming, but I caught a glimpse of his lips moving. I look back and see he has a small smile playing across his face, not necessarily a happy one, I can tell he's still troubled, but I'm getting somewhere.

I offer him my hand and he takes it. We sit there holding hands quietly while waiting for dinner, and by the time Molly has it ready, all of the nervous energy is gone between us.

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Dinner passes uneventfully, the kids talk about their trip out to Diagon Alley, chattering on about this years books. according to Hermione the DADA book is very lacking.

Remus was all collected now. He's remarkable that way. Pulls it together for the kids I think. When dinner is over I help clear the table and in another half hour, I'm ready to leave. I can tell the anxiety Remus was experiencing earlier is edging back.

He turns to me before I head out the door. "Thank you Tonks." He says. "Say hello to Andromeda and Ted for me will you?" "Sure thing. Take care of yourself." I say, genuinely concerned for him. "You know I will." He says smiling without really smiling. "Do I?" I ask with a smirk. "Yes. Yes you have my word. I won't do anything stupid." He chuckles to himself. "Alright then," I say happy with his answer. "will I be seeing you again before the next meeting?" "I should think so..." Nodding I turn and step outside.

I wave to him as I into the night. When I get home, I drop his message by both of my parents and head upstairs. Exhausted, I drop into my bed fully clothed and drift off to sleep.