Unnecessary Jealousy

Unnecessary Jealousy

In which Remus discovers that not being with Tonks is all well and good until she has a boyfriend.

Disclaimer: All hail our mighty queen because she owns everything.

Remus wasn't one for drinking his problems away. For starters, he knew it wouldn't help anything in the long run. Besides, he had so many problems he could hardly think of them all at once, one furry little problem sitting front and foremost in his mind.

He wasn't one for spontaneity or one-night stands. He believed in long-lasting love built on a friendship. Not that he believed he deserved love, of course. He was a werewolf, a despicable being who didn't deserve anyone.

He also wasn't one to fall head over heels and in love. At least, until he met her. She was everything he wasn't; light, bubbly, cheerful, and colorful. Merlin knew she brightened his life. They started as colleagues, acquaintances destined to become closer with their mutual ties to Sirius. Then came the friendship, the stories of times years ago when youthful innocence flourished and the war was merely a thought blooming in the far-off future.

They reminisced and created a getaway, an escape from the tense and darkened world outside. The inside of No. 12 Grimmauld Place may have seemed dank and shabby, but it wasn't the setting that made it so uplifting. It was the people.

Remus Lupin was a lot of things, but he wasn't an optimist. At least, not before he met her. In another life, one where he didn't bare the bite that altered his entire world, maybe it would have been different. Perhaps he would have been a schoolteacher, or an Auror.

In this world though, Remus knew that hope was dangerous. He had always tried his hardest to steer clear of it in order not to get hurt.

She jumped head first into things, tripping and falling, scratching her knees. But what had astounded him most was that even when she hit rock bottom, she climbed back up. Nothing could keep her down for good.

That was until the kiss. He shivered even thinking about it, two months later.

XxXxXxXx

It was a day in January, biting cold and a darkened sky. It was the sort of day that made one want to stay in bed with a book and cocoa, wrapped and warm.

It was this particular day that Remus had gone to the Department of Mysteries on guard duty with her. She had met him there from her flat, pink hair gone in favor of a more discreet honey brown.

She had met him with an arm out to hook his through and a soft half smile. He returned it effortlessly, linking his arm through hers. Their easy friendship was something he treasured, and she just as much. Neither one realized that today it would be stretched until they were both forced to see the all too-obvious gray between the black and white of simple friendship.

They walked the rest of the way to the Ministry. Upon arrival, they followed the normal procedure of duck and cover, always facing back to back, always cautiously looking around the corner. She might have been a clumsy Auror that had a bit of a quarrel with a troll-foot umbrella stand and he might have been a kind and mild-mannered werewolf and ex-Hogwarts professor, but together they made a sort of duo unseen before.

Everything was going as planned, up until they were back at Grimmauld Place. They had disapparated to a street away and walked the block in the biting chill. Remus had given her his scarf, as she was shivering. As they reached the door, that was when it happened.

Tonks tripped up the step and Remus caught her, like usual. As Remus stepped up to the door, he suddenly found himself with his back pressed against the doorframe and Tonks gripping his shoulders. His eyes fluttered closed of their own accord.