*Deserving Of Love*

A/N: This chapter takes place sixth months after the previous one. I left a note on the previous chapter explaining this, but I thought I'd remind you. Please read and review!!!

*****************************************************************************************


“Nymphadora Tonks get a grip on yourself. Millions of women do this every single day… it can’t be that difficult. Just relax and breathe – DAMN DAMN DAMN!!! Bloody hell…”

Tonks slammed the oven shut and stomped her foot on the floor, cursing the fact that her third chocolate soufflé of the night had fallen. It had been six months since her and Remus had started seeing each other, six months since she practically forced Sirius to tell her everything about Remus’s past, and six months since she had decided that she would do anything to hold on to Remus, despite what others, and most importantly, what he thought she should do. She had to admit that it wasn’t an easy six months; she and Remus did have a fantastic time together, but she had to fight to keep him several times now. He had tried to end things with her on a few occasions, especially after he started feeling sorry for himself when he returned from his stays at St. Mungo’s for his transformations, exhausted, battered and frustrated when yet another potion had failed to work better than the Wolfsbane.

He had told her an uncountable amount of times that she deserved someone younger, healthier and wealthier, but she always answered him the same way; by wrapping her arms around him and telling him how much he meant to her, holding on to him until he realized that she wasn’t going to give up on him that easily. He would hold her so tightly after one of those conversations, and whisper to her the he was sorry and to not give up on him, no matter how many times he told her that she should. Tonks would nod and kiss him gently, showing him that she wouldn’t, no matter how hard he tried to push her away.

She knew that he never wanted to really end it with her, that his actions were just because of the guilt he felt at being less than perfect, and that he was simply giving her an out had she changed her mind. She knew this because of the way that he clung to her during the night, wrapping himself so tightly around her that she could hardly breathe most nights. He only did that right after the full moon, all of his insecurities tripled by the fact that he had suffered through a grueling transformation that would leave him ill and fatigued for days with Tonks taking care of him. She was happy to do it, she liked the fact that he needed her as much as she needed him, but it left Remus feeling dependent and pathetic. But once she had started taking care of him after he returned from St. Mungo’s, he did recover much faster than usual. She had done a lot of research on lycanthropy and made sure that he ate regularly, got plenty of sleep and took long hot baths to help relax his sore muscles and soothe his bruises and cuts. She also gave him long massages to help him relax before sleep, which seemed to help quell the nightmares that usually followed his transformations. She also made sure that he had a large stash of chocolate, knowing full well of its healing properties, as well as it being one of his favorite treats. Remus always felt indebted to her after she had taken care of him, but she never let him feel like he was a burden to her.

Tonks had been cooking all day today, the day of their six month anniversary, wanting everything to be absolutely perfect when they celebrated tonight. Which of course meant that everything had fallen apart spectacularly? She burned the chicken, her sauce for the asparagus had curdled, the asparagus itself turned out as mush, the potatoes were half charred AND half raw, and now her third attempt at dessert had deflated right in front of her face. She sniffed back frustrated tears and did the only thing that she could think of that could possibly help salvage this horrific night. She stalked over to the fireplace, threw her pink oven mitts onto the already cluttered coffee table and grabbed a handful of floo powder. She fell to her knees and threw in the powder, stuck her head in the green flames and called for her saving grace: Molly Weasley.

“THE BURROW!”

Molly was singing along to her favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck, on her wireless in the kitchen, setting some potatoes to peel themselves when she heard a muffled whimper from somewhere behind her. She turned around, wand at the ready, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw a very frustrated Tonks’s disembodied head in her fireplace.

“Tonks dear, what’s wrong? Is everything alright? Is Remus ok? Is Sirius –“

“Everyone is fine Molly… I just REALLY need you for a quick minute… can you pop over to my flat? It’s kind of a kitchen emergency…”

Molly sighed and smiled warmly at the young witch; it was common knowledge and even a joke amongst the Order that the most dangerous combination in the wizarding world was probably not Voldemort and his Death Eaters, but Nymphadora Tonks and a stove. She had almost set the kitchen of Grimmauld Place on fire several times in the past year, and a knife still remained stuck in the fireplace stones from last summer when she had tried to charm it to peel a carrot. She couldn’t even manage simple domestic spells properly without a near catastrophe, and Molly knew that Remus wouldn’t even let her near the stove on most occasions; a fact that the whole of the wizarding world was very grateful for.

Tonks chewed her lip and stared at Molly with large eyes, silently pleading with her to help.

“Arthur!” Molly shouted, pulling off her apron and setting it on the table before winking at the very nervous Tonks. Arthur wandered into the kitchen with a copy of the Daily Prophet and smiled at his wife lovingly.

“Yes, light of my life?”

Molly giggled and blushed before walking over and kissing him gently on the cheek. Tonks suddenly felt extremely guilty for interrupting them in their free time, they had so little of with Arthur’s responsibilities at the Ministry and both of their work for the Order.

“I’m going over to Tonks’ for a few minutes; she apparently is having a bit of a problem in the kitchen.”

“Oh she isn’t trying to cook is she?” Arthur asked with wide, terrified eyes.

“I am still partially in the room you know!” Tonks yelled, huffing and hitting her head on the top of her fire place harshly. “Owww…”

Arthur jumped at the sound of her voice and cowered behind Molly, looking in the direction of the fireplace. He smiled sheepishly and waved at a wincing Tonks before turning to look at Molly with even wider eyes.

“Oops… didn’t know she was there. You better go quickly, she seems pretty upset. I’ll finish dinner.”

Molly nodded and gave quick instructions to Arthur before giving him another kiss and strolled over to the fireplace, shooing Tonks out of the way and reaching for a handful of Floo powder. Tonks stood and stepped back from the fireplace quickly, tripped on the rug and landed on a heap on the floor, cursing loudly as she smacked her shoulder on the coffee table. A pile of papers and cd cases were upset by her collision and tumbled over her as Molly stepped gracefully out of the green flames of her fireplace. She spotted the pink-faced witch half-sitting on the floor covered in papers and chuckled slightly as she held out her hand to her.

“C’mon dear, it’s alright… up you go.”

Tonks pulled herself up and burst into tears, finally giving away to the frustration that had been plaguing her for three hours. She started hiccupping through her tears and tried to explain to Molly what the problem was, her words coming out as a jumbled high-pitched mess and Molly reached out and wrapped her arms around her to calm her.

“Shhhh… you need to calm down… I can’t understand a word you are saying. It’s ok; I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t fix, just settle and tell me what’s wrong.”

Tonks breathed deeply and sniffled loudly against Molly’s shoulder, finally calming enough to step back and continue her explanation almost-coherently.

“I was trying-HIC to make dinner fo-HIC Remus and it’s our anniv-HIC-sary and I burned the chic-HIC-ken and the dessert colla-HIC-sped and it’s all ruined!”

Tonks let out a final sigh and rubbed her eyes tiredly like a child would, smearing her makeup across her already splotchy face. Molly smiled at her warmly and wiped Tonks’ pink hair out of her eyes before pulling her into another tight hug.

“Sweetheart it’s alright… let’s go into the kitchen and see about this mess and try to sort it out ok? Don’t fret… now when is Remus supposed to be here?”

Tonks pulled away and looked at the clock on the mantle, tears springing to her eyes once more as she realized what time it was.

“An hour and fifteen minutes… I don’t have time to make everything again… the chicken takes forty-five minutes and the soufflé takes forty, the sauce keeps curdling and and I still have to get ready and I’m a mess… I so badly wanted everything to be perfect and he’s… he’s… he’s going to be so disappointed…” She finished with a defeated whisper, letting out a large sigh as Molly led her into the kitchen.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake… “ Molly muttered as she looked around at all the pots and pans with nearly unrecognizable messes in them. Tonks let out a fresh wave of tears and sat down on a stool, burying her face in her arms as Molly patted her on the back.

“It’s going to be ok. The night is not ruined. And even if it was Remus would not be disappointed; he loves you so much that he would gladly eat that sorry excuse for asparagus if you asked him to.”

Tonks giggled and sniffled loudly, and realizing that Molly was right, raised her puffy red face to her smiling friend.

“How about you go take a hot bath, get dressed, and I’ll take care of the kitchen, huh?”

Tonks nodded silently and gave Molly a very wet kiss on the cheek before sniffling and walking out of the kitchen with her head hanging low. Molly smiled and shook her head as Tonks disappeared into the bathroom, then took a deep breath and turned back to the mess on the stove.

“Merlin help Remus Lupin if they get married… he’ll have to do all the cooking…” she muttered as she peered into the sink and shook her head again in amusement before pulling out her wand and rolling up her sleeves, “not to mention the cleaning…”


An hour later a calm and collected Tonks looked at herself approvingly in her bedroom mirror before heading to the kitchen to see what Molly had made out of her failed cooking attempt. She gasped as she entered the room to find the table perfectly set, the plates filling themselves with steaming food, the wine in a bucket of ice, and the crystal glasses shimmering in candlelight. Molly was placing the gleaming silverware next to each plate when she noticed Tonks standing there and winked at the surprised look on the younger woman’s face.

“Molly it’s beautiful…” Tonks gasped as she walked forward to inspect the dinner table further, giggling as a bowl of salad mixed itself carefully.

“No you’re beautiful… Remus won’t even remember that there is such thing as food when he sees you in that dress…”

Tonks blushed and smiled, twirling around in the maroon dress that she bought special for the occasion. It was a simple dress – with three-quarter length sleeves and with a v-neck front that showed just enough cleavage, tapering to a snug fit in the stomach before fanning out slightly into a swishy skirt that fell to just below her knees – but the color set off her fair skin perfectly so that she looked like she practically glowed. Her hair fell around her face in soft honey waves, and her grey eyes sparkled under smoky makeup. Her heels matched the dress perfectly, held onto her feet by thin straps of maroon that wound around her ankles, a small bow at the back. Molly looked her up and down and nodded her approval, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek carefully so not to mess up her makeup.

“Absolutely gorgeous… Poor Remus won’t know what’s hit him… Speaking of Remus, I better get going… he should be here any minute, and I have a dinner date myself.”

Tonks followed Molly out of the kitchen into the living room, looking around amazed at the transformation of that room as well – while Tonks was getting ready Molly had not only cooked the meal and cleaned the kitchen, but straightened the living room as well. She lit at least two dozen candles all around, giving it a soft romantic flickering glow. There was a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne on the rug in front of the fireplace, along with a plate of plump red strawberries next to a bowl of melted chocolate for dipping. Tonks blinked back tears as she saw how much effort Molly had put into the evening, and she suddenly felt guilty that she couldn’t do it instead.

“Tut tut… no more tears… Now. The food is charmed to stay hot until you start eating it, and the leftovers will put themselves away when it’s time. The dishes are also charmed to take care of themselves once they are emptied, just put them in the sink. All you have to worry about is keeping Remus’ hands off of you long enough to actually enjoy the meal… And the chocolate in that bowl will stay melted until you are done eating or… using it.

“Molly! I can’t believe you actually said that…”

“Nymphadora… I have been married for a long time, trust me, I know how to keep a man interested. Besides, I saw your face redden as you looked at that bowl of chocolate. You can’t tell me that the thought didn’t cross your mind. After all… Remus loves his chocolate…”

Tonks smiled and blushed profusely at this and gave Molly a grateful hug before leading her to the fireplace.

“Thank you so much Molly… I don’t know what I would have done without you. Apologize to Arthur for me about ruining your night, ok?”

Molly smiled warmly at her and gave her another quick hug before grabbing a handful of floo powder and crouching into the fireplace.

“You didn’t ruin our night… I’m just glad I could help. Have a wonderful night dear and happy anniversary to you and Remus…”

She smiled and winked once more and disappeared into a flash of green, leaving a beaming Tonks alone in her glowing living room. She glanced at the clock; she had exactly fifteen minutes before Remus showed up and she still needed to add a few finishing touches. She pulled her wand out of the top of her thigh-high stockings and lit a fire in the fireplace before pointing it at the stereo in the corner. She had found a way to charm the stereo to start playing when Remus opened the door, as a way to alert her if she didn’t hear him and as a nice welcome when he came in. She hurriedly went into her bedroom and went to the closet to retrieve three packages in gold paper and carried them out to set on the floor next to the champagne. She ran to the bathroom to check her makeup, and reapplied her lipstick, charming it so that it wouldn’t fade or rub off. She heard keys in the lock and smiled at her reflection nervously before going back to the living room.

Heavy footsteps made their way up the stairs toward her and she listened carefully, confused at why Remus hadn’t said anything yet, and suddenly becoming aware that the stereo never clicked on. She was about to wave her wand in the direction of the radio when the red-haired head of her uninvited guest came into view.

She stood shocked and speechless as Charlie Weasley appeared before her, her spare keys dangling from his large hand as he stepped onto the landing. He smiled broadly, looking her up and down for a second before moving closer to her.

“Wow… you look amazing…”

Tonks snapped out of her shocked stupor, suddenly afraid that something terrible had happened to Remus and Charlie had been sent to deliver the bad news. Remus had been sent out on a little mission for the Order two days ago and was due to return tonight, but as always there were no guarantees that he would return safely. Her heart fell to her chest and she felt tears well up in her eyes at the possibility that he didn’t return; that tonight, of all nights, he wouldn’t be there – that she lost him on their sixth month anniversary. Charlie’s smile faded and he walked over to her, a worried expression on his handsome face. Tonks sniffed back a cry and squared her shoulders, preparing for the worst as she looked up into the eyes of Charlie Weasley.

“He isn’t coming back, is he Charlie?”


A/N: Sorry... couldn't resist a little cliffhanger there... stay tuned!