Chapter 24

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thanks to June for her help with this story.

Chapter 24

Severus and Remus returned to the dungeons. Hermione had arrived a few minutes before they did. She opened the door to see Severus and a smiling Lupin staring back at her.

"It worked?" she asked hopefully. Remus lunged at her and took her into a hug. "I gather that's a yes, then?"

"Remus, I'll thank you to unhand my wife," said Severus, as he moved them all into the room. They entered the living area and sat down around the coffee table.

"I can't believe this is happening. I want to tell the world!" yelled Remus.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," said Severus. Both Remus and Hermione looked at him oddly.

"But Severus, can you imagine how much easier it will be for Remus if the world knows he's been cured?"

"And can you imagine how much harder life will be for us when we tell those who also want a cure that we cannot help them?" Severus leaned forward. "There was only one paw."

Hermione and Remus now sat back, looking as though someone had popped their red balloons.

"Remus, I'm sorry, but you can't tell the world you are no longer a werewolf," Severus said. "If someday we can find a cure that does not involve this particular potion, then yes. But in the meantime, you must keep this within a small circle of friends and family."

Remus nodded. "You're right. It wouldn't be fair to flaunt my cure, when so many others out there would want the same thing." Remus shook his head. While he felt badly, that he would have to keep this a secret, he still knew that his friends would know the truth. "I need to go to Tonks." He stood and walked towards the door.

"Why don't you just Floo home?" asked Hermione.

"I need to go to Diagon Alley. I think it's time I make things official." He smiled and left. Hermione turned to Severus.

"It seems that we will soon be attending a wedding," said Severus.

Hermione moved to his side and kissed his cheek. "It would seem so."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It took Remus less than one hour to pick out the perfect ring for Tonks. It was a silver band with Alexandrite as the center stone. He chose the stone because of its ability to change color depending on the light. He thought it was the perfect stone for her.

As he Apparated back to Grimmauld Place, he wondered if she would still want to marry him after all this time. After all, they were already practically living together, and for almost a year had been saving their money together. Being somewhat of a free spirit, would Tonks even want to make things official now that he could? He decided not to think in those negative terms. He walked up the steps of the home and opened the door, then called out her name as he shut the door behind him.

"Tonks! Love, are you here?" He wandered around the house for a few minutes until he heard some cursing in the kitchen. As he pushed open the swinging door, he noticed her pained expression as she sucked on her thumb.

"I bloody cut myself," she exclaimed while shoving her bleeding digit towards him. "Honestly, I can't understand why Hermione rants and raves about cooking the Muggle way. You could wind up losing half your fingers before getting even half-started."

He took hold of her thumb and chuckled as he kissed it.

"If you hate it so much, then why do you do it?" Remus waved his wand over her hand and stopped the blood flow, then healed the wound. "Why don't we just go somewhere? Wouldn't you like to have an evening out?" He remembered Harry telling him several years ago about how he had proposed to Pansy. Harry had taken her to a Quidditch match. After the snitch had been caught, the winning team used their brooms to write "Marry me Pansy" in green and red colored smoke which flowed from their brooms.

Remus thought the gesture to be quite creative on Harry's part, and wanted to do something equally as memorable for his hopefully soon to be wife. While he had not planned anything so elaborate, he thought it would be nice to take Tonks out to dinner, then take her on a stroll along the Thames. There he would get down on one knee and propose. It would be perfect. If only he could get her out of the house.

"I don't feel like going anywhere. I just want to stay home and soak in a nice warm tub. You wouldn't believe the day I had." She continued chopping what looked to have once been mushrooms. She had a nasty habit of talking with her hands sometimes, and unfortunately right now she was holding a knife. "I swear if I get one more false Death Eater call from an angry witch trying to get her husband hauled off to Azkaban, I'll explode."

"Oh, Arthur has you working the domestic section again," he said as he barely missed having his ear nicked off.

"I understand that things are slow, but I'm going mad. Sometimes I wonder why people get married in the first place. Husbands cheating on wives, then wives trying to get them hauled off by Aurors for something they never did, just out of spite." She shook her head and looked at him. "I just don't know sometimes why people ruin their lives by getting married." She turned and began looking for a saucepan.

Remus felt his mouth go dry. The entire time she was ranting, he had been clutching the small box containing her ring. How could he have been so wrong? He thought she would want to be married. What woman didn't long to be called wife? He was so caught up in wondering if the jewelry store at Diagon Alley would take the ring back that he didn't notice her walk up behind him.

"What's on your mind, Remy?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He was so surprised he jumped up, thus dropping the box from his grasp. Quickly, he bent down and retrieved the box, only to be stopped before he could place it in his pocket. "Hang on, what's that?"

"Nothing. It's just something...umm...I needed for..." Now he was in for it. 'For what, Remus,' he thought. Tonks stared at him, her eyebrows raised. "Umm, Severus. Yes, Severus asked me to pick this up for Hermione."

"Can't Severus pick up his own whatever you have there?" she asked.

"Well, it's sort of a surprise, and since he and Hermione have been working on this new research, she just won't leave his side. So he asked me if I could pick it up for him." He began to walk out of the kitchen but was stopped.

"Let's see it, then. What is it?" she asked as she approached him.

"It's just a ring, nothing special," he said, waving her off, hoping to make it sound less important than it was. But instead her face lit up.

"Oh, please let me see it." She smiled and gestured towards the hand he held the box in. Remus sighed and handed her the box. Tonks took hold of the box and opened it. "Remus, it's absolutely the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Oh, Hermione is so lucky. What's the occasion?" she asked him, but didn't take her eyes off the ring.

"Well, you know their anniversary is coming up, so Severus wanted to get her something special." He wished he could take the ring and place it on her finger, yet ... after hearing her go on the way she did about marriage ... he doubted he would ever have that pleasure. She took the ring from its small pocket inside the box and smiled. Then he noticed her eyes becoming glassy and moist. "What's wrong, love?"

"I just," she looked at him, "nothing." She quickly placed the ring back in the box and handed it to him as she walked out of the kitchen.

Remus grabbed the box and followed her out to the living room. "What's wrong?" he asked as he grabbed her by the wrist.

"It's not important," she said, turning to him and wiping her tears. "And besides, we can't do anything about it anyway."

"It's important enough to make you cry," he said as he Remus moved towards her and touched her tear-stained cheek.

"I've always dreamed of having something like that from you."

"This ring symbolizes commitment. The type of commitment you just said you didn't understand anyone wanting," he said gently.

Tonks bowed her head. "Because you've never wanted to get married. I just don't want you to feel guilty. But I'm sorry, Remus, I do want to be married. I want the ring, the commitment, the wedding. I know you don't want to have children, but I do. I love you, Remus, and I can't live without you. But I can't pretend I don't want those things anymore." She turned to walk away, but Remus kept his hold on her. "Let me go. I'll be all right, please. Let me just go to the bedroom and have a good cry, and we can both forget I ever said anything, all right?" she begged.

"No, I won't let you go; and no, we won't forget this ever happened." Remus now pulled her towards him.

"Please, Remus," she cried as she tried to free herself from his grip.

"You can't just say those things and tell me to forget them. I can't live a lie, Tonks," he said.

Tonks stopped struggling. She looked into his eyes and knew she had said too much. "Remus, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that this ring," he held up the box, "is not for Hermione. This ring is for you. I want you to marry me." While things hadn't worked out as he had hoped, he knelt down on one knee anyway and held out the ring, which he had taken out of the box. "Well, what say you? Will you marry me, Tonks?"

She threw her arms out and tackled him to the ground. She straddled him and kissed his face with hundreds of kisses. "Oh, you lovely man! Yes, of course I'll marry you!" she exclaimed.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back slightly. "There's more," he said.

"More? More what? More rings?"

"No. I've got more to say." He sat up and placed the ring on her finger. Her hair changed colors as the ring shone on her finger. "I've been cured. I'm not a werewolf anymore."

She took her eyes off the shining ring and looked at him. "Remus, how?" she hugged him tightly as he explained what had transpired that afternoon, then stood and stared down at him. "Remus Lupin, you could have died! Are you crazy? You took a potion that wasn't even tested!"

"Severus said it would probably be okay," he said.

"Oh, and if Severus told you to jump off the Gryffindor Tower because you probably wouldn't wind up splattered all over the ground, you would jump?" she shook her head. "You men are like little boys."

Remus stood and cupped her face in his hands. "All right, it was a huge chance I took. But it worked, so let's be happy." He kissed her then, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "And we can have a baby." He kissed her again. "Don't be angry, love."

"All right. I won't be angry, just as long as we can start on the baby now."

He quickly picked her up and made his way to their room. Today was turning out to be a very good day for Remus Lupin, former bachelor werewolf.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yes, I called it didn't I? I just knew Remus and Tonks would be good together, and apparently so does JKR.