A Long Awaited Proposal

Rain fell fast and hard, making sheets of icy water that were virtually impossible to see through. Remus Lupin stood in the thundering downpour, his worn and patched traveling cloak whipping violently around him, as he stared across the street to an undersized home belonging to a young witch with heart-shaped face, who he wanted to see so desperately.

The house reminded Remus a bit of himself: gray, dingy, meager, weak, and too old to be put back the market because no one would buy it, so hopefully the owner still loved it enough not to move on.

There was a glow of a bedside lamp coming from one of the windows. Remus could barely make out the silhouette of a woman lying on her bed, waving her wand at the wall as if painting something; she often did when she was thinking. Remus knew this because he had once walked in and broken her thought process, when he lived there after Sirius had died and she needed a shoulder to cry on.

A lot had happened in the past three days, giving a person a lot to think about, including the death of the greatest wizard in history.

Albus Dumbledore had died, murdered by Severus Snape a man Dumbledore trusted above all others. The worst part was, Harry had warned everyone he could that Snape and Draco Malfoy were up to something, but no one who heard his story had believed him. "If Dumbledore trusts Snape, I trust Snape," was the reply of most. Everyone who Harry had confided in felt just as responsible for the Headmaster's death as Snape actually was, and no one could apologize enough.

However, Dumbledore's death was not the first thing that came to mind when Remus thought of the past three days. "But I don't care either, I don't care!" Her eyes were blue when she said that, Tonks's. He couldn't fight it anymore; he was finished lying to everyone, including himself. He loved Tonks, and he couldn't keep acting like he hadn't any feelings for her. Remus had finally realized his attempt to protect Tonks was only causing her pain. Tonks knew perfectly well he was a werewolf; she was also an Auror and a member of the Order. If anyone was safe with a beast like him, it was her.

He reached under his traveling cloak, deep into his soaked coat pocket, and withdrew a small, blue velvet bag. Blinking rain from his eyes, Remus wriggled two fingers into the bag and pulled out a glittering gold ring. He studied it closely for a moment, and then replaced it back into the bag and the bag into his pocket. "Will you marry me?" he cried out for practice, not noticing a short, gray haired woman in a raincoat bustling past him. "Oh," he shouted as the woman gave him a questioning look, "sorry! Not you!" She nodded, still staring at him as though unsure of his sanity. As she waddled away, pushing a clattering walker in front of her, Remus took a deep breath and decided it was now or never.

He tightened his collar around his throat, ducked his head from the oncoming winds, and made his way to the other side of street. Remus's feet splashed through a vast puddle, giving him the allusion of wading through a small river. At street's edge, Remus stepped in a particularly deep section of the puddle, which filled his shoe with freezing water and made him even colder and more uncomfortable than he was before. As he shook his frozen foot over the curb in hopes some of the water would empty from the seams of the shoe, he realized what a bad day he had chosen to ask for someone's hand in marriage.

Remus approached Tonks's front door with an outstretched fist. The minute his knuckles struck the wood, he began hearing the clatters of Tonks surely tripping over something. He ran his fingers through his sopping wet hair and straightened his soaked tie anxiously. So caught up in the alignment of his tie, Remus was startled to look up and find the tip of Tonks's wand pressed firmly to his nose. "Nymphadora Amelia Tonks..." he began, dropping to one knee and leaving her wand to point at nothing but rain. Tonks glanced around as though someone was about to jump out at her dressed in a clown suit and yell: "Physic!" "... Tonks?" Remus called up to her, "I'm down here." He kept his voice sweet and patient because he didn't really expect her to take him seriously after the way he denied her so many times. She looked back down at him, her wand still raised in front of her; she appeared to be incredibly confused. "Will you marry me?"

Tonks lowered her wand and burst into hysterical laughter. "This," she shouted through the noise of the thundering rain, "is your best one yet! Mean, but really good!"

"What?" Remus yelled back in uncertainty as he got to his feet, "I don't... it wasn't my intention to be mean to you! I thought you-!"

She took a deep breath and stopped laughing. As her face fell into a more serious expression, Remus became aware Tonks had been crying. Her hair was still limp and brown, her eyes were blue, and there were streaks on her cheeks shining in the light of her foyer. He could only imagine the tears were caused by the horrible display he had put on three days ago, when he turned her down in front of everyone at St. Mungo's. "Oh come on Fred," she groaned, obviously exasperated, "like Re-!"

"Fred?"

"Sorry," Tonks sighed, "George... you didn't think I'd believe this? Remus made it perfectly clear, in front of everyone, he didn't want to be together. Now, go home before you give your mother heart failure not knowing where you are!"

Remus watched Tonks as she began closing the front door, his heart sinking and his mind racing. "Tonks," he called, reaching out and taking her hand before she could escape him. She stared at him with the mixed look of pity, awkwardness, and hope; she wanted it to really be him, Remus could tell.

Remus slowly assorted her outside, so they were both standing in the middle of the downpour; he knew she wouldn't want to be seen crying, and in the rain, he couldn't even tell. "Please," he plunged his hand back into his pocket and, again, pulled out the small velvet bag. "It was my mother's," he took her hand gingerly in his and put the ring in her palm, "I don't really know why I kept it, but now I'm glad I did. It should fit just fine; you and my mother both had very small hands."

Tonks glared at him as though he was slowly turning into a monkey, and then glanced down at the ring lying in her left hand. "It... I-... What?" she stuttered, now staring around and whipping rain from her face with the back of her right sleeve. "I don't understand," Tonks glanced back down at the ring in left hand, which she was holding out in front of her like it was a bomb soon to explode, "this isn't a joke?" Remus shook his head. "You are Remus John Lupin?" Remus nodded. "Since when do you want to marry me?"

"Three days ago!" Remus shouted bluntly, soon after realizing how dumb he sounded.

"You toss pot!" Tonks snapped, rain dripping from her face like a running faucet, "What are you playing at? You broke my heart in front of everyone! Am I supposed to believe Cupid shoot you in the butt, or something? And now you're crazy in love with me, and your heart aches when you're not with me? Forget it! You said it yourself: you don't love me!"

"I know what I said, but I lied! I love you!" Remus stepped closer, "Can't you see when I look at you?"

Tonks shook her head, "No! No, usually you look at me like you're experiencing a terrible migraine, or like you're about to vomit!" There was a long pause as Remus tried to come up with an appropriate response; after all, she was right. He had never shot her a loving look, or a glance that showed any amount of longing. "I'm not an idiot Remus," Tonks said, shoving the ring back at him, "you're here because Molly and Arthur made you feel sorry for me. I'll have you know, I don't want a husband out of pity! I'm independent, strong; not a helpless child looking for protection! So don't lie and say you love me, when I know you're just annoyed and want people off your back! What kind of husband would you be to me? You don't even my natural eye color!"

She dropped the ring in his hand and started back to the door. "Green." Remus stared down at the ring with great remorse. He finally understood how much it hurt, having someone you truly love turn their back to you. "Your natural eye color is green, like grass after the snow melts in the Spring. You get them from your mother, and you only change them to brown because, for some odd reason, you don't want your mum to know how much you love looking like her."

Tonks was now giving him her full attention with an expectant, but loving stare.

"Is this how I've made you feel?...When I walked away from you all those times?" Warm tears mixed with the freezing rain and streamed from his face into his hand, pooling around the ring as he looked back at her.. "I do love you," he said weakly, "... I have loved you. I don't why it scares me... not being with you... it's never scared me before. I need you; you're all I have. I promise you this, my heart's killing me... worse than full moons, and Cupid doesn't really exist, which just means he has nothing to do with how I feel about you. It's empty, heart. If it can't have you," –he raised his hand with the ring in it up towards her– "I've got a strong feeling it will stay that way."

Without warning, Remus felt two arms fly around his neck, pulling him into a long awaited hug from the woman he had such wet socks for.

She was the softest and sweetest thing ever to fill his arms. It felt so good to finally have her there, where he could keep her and never feel alone. For so long, he had been shunned by society because of what he was, but it didn't matter what other people thought of him as long as he had Tonks. She tightened her hold around him and her cheek rested against his neck, sending an amazing warmth through him. His previously freezing body had stopped shivering, and he too tightened his arms around her.

After a few minutes of standing in the rain storm together, Remus allowed his arms to fall from her sides. He held up his mother wedding band, and Tonks held up her left hand. "Will you," he smiled, gingerly taking her hand, "Nymphadora Amelia Tonks please marry me?" She beamed up at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet, and her hair turned a shocking shade of pink. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Remus chuckled as he slid the ring onto her finger. The moment it was settled snuggly in place, Tonks grabbed the tie Remus had fussed over so much, tugged him down to her level, and kissed him like it was her dying wish.