Tangled Sheets

By: Amy Elizabeth

Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are sole property of J.K. Rowling

Rating/Warning: T, suggestive situations.

A/N: Well, I suppose after all of the happy, light pieces I've been doing, it was time for some other emotion to work in, though you will find scenes of banter in this too. This was meant as a HBP era piece, though I realized it works for DH too. It's been awhile since I attempted even partial romantic "angst" so I hope you enjoy.

…………………

She lay very still on her bed. Her arms sandwiched between her chest and the mattress. As her fingers curled against her neck, she could feel the steady, strong beat of her heart under them. Past the horizon of her blankets, she could only make out the fuzzy outline of the chair across the room. Not that she was really looking. Wrapped in an old sweater, she could vaguely feel how cold her feet were as they hung suspended over the edge.

She was waiting to cry.

However, she had lain there for over an hour, the steady rise and fall of her breath the only sound in the room. She turned her face and pressed her forehead into the mattress, her lips brushing her hands where they folded under her chin. With nothing but the dark shadows of her cover to look at, she closed her eyes.

"You got it wrong this time, Remus." She whispered against her hand, feeling the warm, wet air caress her fingers.

……………………………

The bed was mostly unmade, though she had made a show of putting the decorative pillows back on when he came in. She wiggled deeper under the covers, letting her feet warm themselves amongst the tangled blankets. She kept her hands folded underneath her, between her chest and the mattress; but her face she kept on its side, looking at the person next to her.

Her stomach, straining against the mattress, suddenly deflated as she let out a loud sigh.

Sometimes she hated reading.

Remus looked up from his book as she flopped over on her side, "Bored, Nymphadora?" Sitting propped up against the headboard, his long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle. He sat the book down next to him on the bed.

Letting one hand drift dangerously close to his leg, fingers dancing across the seams in the side, she used her other to prop herself up on her elbow. She let her hair fall haphazardly in her eyes, which twinkled with barely disguised intent, "A little…"

He smiled gently at her, "Let me finish this and then we can go find something to do." As his hand reached towards the book, she suddenly launched herself over him, grabbing it off the mattress. With most of her body sprawled across his lap, she reached further over to set the book on the floor, grabbing his arm to keep from falling all the way off the bed. Righting herself, she sat straddling his waist, his partially seated position bringing their faces very close together.

"You have no idea how much restraint I used to not throw that across the room."

His eyes were wide, though she couldn't tell if it was from the fact she was straddling his lap or because she had taken his book. "Thank you?"

She smiled, "You're welcome." She leaned herself closer, using her hands against the headboard on either side of his head to balance herself, "Sometimes you get these romantic things wrong, Remus." She brushed a kiss across his lips before murmuring against them, "But its ok…"

………………………….

She turned her face from the mattress to the headboard, taking in the bright pillows that sat against it. Uncomfortable on the neatly made bed, her feet suddenly missed the tangled blankets. She pushed against the mattress with her hands, raising herself to all fours, before stretching her legs out to find the floor.

Once standing, she pulled back the corner of the quilt and busied herself tangling the sheets together. Blankets fell at angles and decorative pillows flew across the room. As she moved to grab the last pillow off the bed, she admired her handiwork. It looked well slept in, inviting. Suddenly, instead of dropping the pillow, as she had intended, she clutched it to her chest and moved to settle amongst the sheets.

It was too cold.

Tightening her grip on the pillow, she twisted her feet in the fabric anyway. Idly, she began to finger the tiny stitches in the quilt. Tiny white marks set against the deep crimson of the square, perfectly done and evenly spaced. Her eyes drifted to the sleeve of her sweater, its knits also expertly done but with the slightly haphazard look of something that was done by hand. She gave a tiny smile as she noticed how the deep green sleeve accented the red of her cover. It looked like Christmas.

…………………………………

"I don't know how Molly does it." Remus placed a package on the table next to her chair as he moved around to sit in the chair next to hers. She grinned at the deep green of the new sweater he wore as she grabbed the small package with her name emblazoned across it.

"I like that color."

"Ah, yes. Thank you." The blush spreading across his face provided a complete Christmas color scheme. "She hopes you like yours, she was sorry she couldn't stay until you got here to open it."

"Me too, I'll have to owl her in a minute." Tonks started to tear into the paper, her fingers brushing against the soft fabric, the soft green fabric.

She laughed out loud, pulling the sweater all the way free of the paper, "It looks like we'll be matching this year."

His head snapped up from the book he had opened, "What?" He took in the gift in her hands, "Oh." He frowned, "Molly doesn't usually forget that she's already used a color. I hope she's not upset when she realizes."

Tonks laughed even harder, she really did find him endearing, "This wasn't a mistake, Remus. Its Molly's attempt at a subtle hint."

His eyebrows shot far, far up on his head, "Tonks, Molly wouldn't…"

She pushed herself out of her chair, crumpling the paper in her hand, clutching her new sweater against her, "No, you've got it wrong, Remus Lupin; Molly Weasley would, and did. She's playing matchmaker."

He sputtered tea as he tried to take a sip. She doubted it was because it was hot.

Tossing her head over her shoulder as she strode to the door, she gave a little wink, "But its ok, I'm glad she is."

……………………………………..

She dropped the edge of the quilt, her hand coming to rest against the sheets. For a second she considered reaching towards the still full cup of tea she had placed on top of book on her nightstand.

Remus would kill me if he knew I was using a book as a coaster.

Instead, still gripping the pillow, she turned over to her other side. The tea was cold, anyway. She left one hand clutching the pillow as she used the other to pull her knees closer to her chest. The smooth skin on her legs raised in goose bumps as she drew a still too cold sheet up them. She knotted the fabric between her fingers, drawing it up to her chin.

Bright, white light shone through her window and lit the pale, pink sheet now gathered around her. She felt a little silly, wrapped in her bed, in the middle of the afternoon.

This would have been much more dramatic if it was the middle of the night.

Resisting the temptation to hide her face in her pillow, she satisfied herself in watching the dust particles catch and glimmer in the shafts of light.

…………………………………………………

The late afternoon light bounced off the white sheet spread over the grass, catching off the rims of the glasses, and casting shadows around the once full bottle of wine between them. Lying on her back, her head in Remus' lap, Tonks indulged in an old, childhood ritual.

"I think that one looks like a lion." She lazily pointed upwards at a drifting cloud.

A shadow fell over her as his skeptical face swam into her view, "You're not really playing that, are you?"

She gave him an indignant look as she drew her elbows under her to push her up, "And what if I am?"

He raised his arms in mock surrender, "Never mind, it's a charming game."

Rising to a sitting position, she twisted to look at him, "Alright, if that isn't what you'd like to do, we'll find something else."

He smiled, "And what was wrong with just sitting here, enjoying the afternoon?"

She gave an impish grin, "I have a better idea." She seized his wrist and tugged him up with her.

Against his halfhearted attempts to resist, she pulled him to a nearby stream. "Take off your shoes." She began to tug off her boots.

He didn't move, "Tonks…"

She stopped to shoot him a deadly stare, "Do it."

He did.

As soon as their pants were rolled high enough to avoid the shallow, running water they waded in.

"Dear Merlin, this is freezing, Dora." Remus paused, standing barely away from the bank, "Are you sure about this?"

"Get in here, Remus Lupin." She shook her head at him as she waded deeper, the water nipping at her calves, "I always knew that Gryffindor courage was overrated."

"It is not." He took a cautious step farther in, "Though I will say that the Hufflepuffs seem to be falsely accused of having a sense of 'fair play'."

She paused in her wading to send him a glare, "Not having a sense of "fair play" would be doing this." With uncharacteristic gracefulness she ducked and swiped at the water, sending a large handful flying towards him. Laughing, she took in the suddenly dripping man in front of her, "You look good wet."

His tentativeness toward the water forgotten, he swiftly followed her into the middle of the stream, "Nymphadora Tonks, I'm going to..."

Twisting away from him as he caught up with her, she shrieked in laughter, "Don't call me Nymphad…" Her retort died on her lips as her foot slipped against a moss-covered rock. Yelping in surprise, her arms shot out in an attempt to grab a hold of something as she fell, hard, on her backside. Sitting, with the water running around her waist, she turned her face upwards, wide eyed, at him.

He laughed gently as he reached down to pick her up, "You had better be thankful for Gryffindor chivalry…"

Her hand closed around his wrist, but instead of letting him pull her up, she tugged firmly downward.

Surprise registered on his face as he tumbled towards her, both of them falling into the gently rushing stream. Sputtering as he pushed off of her, he had just gotten himself righted as another handful of water hit him in the chest. Laughing, she sat up herself, preparing for another attack, "Afraid to get a little wet?"

The challenging twinkle in her eyes made it impossible for him to resist.

They swiped water back and forth, occasionally pulling each other down into the water, until, out of breath; they waded back and collapsed back against the bank.

Noticing that she had started to shiver as the air hit her soaking clothes, he pulled her into a snug embrace, "I told you it was cold."

She wiggled closer to him, burying her face in the crook of his neck as they lay against the ground, "I was betting that you'd help get me warm afterwards." Her little face peeked up at him, dark eyes still dancing, "In fact, lets get home and we'll warm up in bed."

He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers before pressing a deeper kiss against her mouth, "I didn't think this would be so much fun."

She grinned at him, "You were wrong." She trailed her hand over his damp shirt, "But its ok…"

……………………………………

The sheets were warmer around her now. Though, if she knew if she moved her foot to the left, it would hit the cold on the other side. Absently, she ran her fingertips across her cheeks, still resolutely dry.

His fingers traced over her cheekbones, disappearing into her hair, fisting amongst it, as he pulled her face to his.

She bit down on her lip as she finally buried her face into the pillow, squeezing her eyes shut against its rough material.

His breath was warm against her ear, "I love you." His lips closed over her earlobe, gently sucking it into his mouth. His hands grasped at her hips, fingertips burning against her bare skin. She pressed herself upward into him, pulling her hands free of the sheets they were tangled in, clutching at his back.

Her knees pressed upwards to her chest, her fingernails dug into sheet and pillows.

His weight pushed off of her and the mattress bounced as it readjusted around them. Sweaty, warm skin wrapped around her. Gentle lips caressed her forehead, a soft hand stroking her hair away from her face. She reached down and pulled the sheet up around them.

The last, deceptively warm colored shafts of the evening light filtered across the bed as she rolled to face the ceiling. Gently, she disengaged herself from the pillow and placed it beside her. Smoothing the sheets around her, she blinked at the ceiling. Her hand drifted to the empty spot beside her and lay still.

"Its better this way, Tonks."

She folded her hands across her chest, looking absurdly defiant amongst her sheets, "You got it wrong this timeRemus." Turning her face to the empty spot beside her and the stack of books on his nightstand, she tried to tell herself again that it would be ok.