A Better Time
Dec. 14th, 2015 07:57 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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author_by_night
Title: A Better Time
Rating & Warnings: PG
Word Count/Art Medium: 374
Prompt(s): 24. ‘“This is....not the moment to discuss it,” said Lupin, avoiding everybody’s eyes as he looked around distractedly. “Dumbledore is dead....”
‘“Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world,” said Professor McGonagall curtly...’
―J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Summary: Following the death of Dumbledore, Remus and Tonks talk about the past year.
Notes: Just a little drabble, since apparently they're allowed. I'd wanted this to be longer, but apparently it didn't want to be.
Constructive criticism is welcome.
It had been a long night, and neither Remus or Tonks had slept.
Remus knew Tonks hadn't been doing well, but it only occurred to him now how much she must have been suffering. She'd yelled at him loudly in the Hospital Wing, but while it hadn't seemed like the right time... could he really blame her? Their friend had almost been killed. Dumbledore was gone. They'd already almost lost and officially lost so many people and things - Tonks needed him to be there, not far away, not distancing himself; and Remus needed her to be here, not pushed away.
So they sat at Tonks's flat, drinking tea in silence.
"Greyback attacked Bill because of me," Remus said after a minute.
"Remus."
"I'm not blaming myself. Ever since he worked out that I was a spy, he's been exacting his revenge. I know how he thinks. But I wish I'd found a better reason to leave before he found out the truth."
"I doubt it would've been that simple," Tonks said. "You did what you could."
"I think, if I'd had you, I would've been stronger," Remus admitted. "Quicker on my feet. What I'm trying to say is... I'm sorry."
"Me too," Tonks said. "In my own way, I was distancing myself just as much. Pretending all the bad things - like Sirius being gone - didn't affect me as much as they did, cracking jokes and spitting sarcastic retorts.... that's how I cope. By pretending I don't know what's on the other side of the door."
"I know; me too. I've always seen a lot of you in myself. Maybe that's what frightened me the most. What I went through all those years ago... I wouldn't wish them on anyone, Dora."
"But those things are happening again. If anything, they're going to get worse."
Remus wanted to tell her she was wrong, but he knew she wasn't. Dumbledore was gone. The one person who'd always kept Voldemort from going as far as he might have otherwise was gone. There was no telling what he'd do now. So instead, he took her hand and squeezed it.
"We'll be okay," he told her. "We have each other now."
"No more stupidity?"
"No more stupidity."
author_by_nightTitle: A Better Time
Rating & Warnings: PG
Word Count/Art Medium: 374
Prompt(s): 24. ‘“This is....not the moment to discuss it,” said Lupin, avoiding everybody’s eyes as he looked around distractedly. “Dumbledore is dead....”
‘“Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world,” said Professor McGonagall curtly...’
―J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Summary: Following the death of Dumbledore, Remus and Tonks talk about the past year.
Notes: Just a little drabble, since apparently they're allowed. I'd wanted this to be longer, but apparently it didn't want to be.
Constructive criticism is welcome.
It had been a long night, and neither Remus or Tonks had slept.
Remus knew Tonks hadn't been doing well, but it only occurred to him now how much she must have been suffering. She'd yelled at him loudly in the Hospital Wing, but while it hadn't seemed like the right time... could he really blame her? Their friend had almost been killed. Dumbledore was gone. They'd already almost lost and officially lost so many people and things - Tonks needed him to be there, not far away, not distancing himself; and Remus needed her to be here, not pushed away.
So they sat at Tonks's flat, drinking tea in silence.
"Greyback attacked Bill because of me," Remus said after a minute.
"Remus."
"I'm not blaming myself. Ever since he worked out that I was a spy, he's been exacting his revenge. I know how he thinks. But I wish I'd found a better reason to leave before he found out the truth."
"I doubt it would've been that simple," Tonks said. "You did what you could."
"I think, if I'd had you, I would've been stronger," Remus admitted. "Quicker on my feet. What I'm trying to say is... I'm sorry."
"Me too," Tonks said. "In my own way, I was distancing myself just as much. Pretending all the bad things - like Sirius being gone - didn't affect me as much as they did, cracking jokes and spitting sarcastic retorts.... that's how I cope. By pretending I don't know what's on the other side of the door."
"I know; me too. I've always seen a lot of you in myself. Maybe that's what frightened me the most. What I went through all those years ago... I wouldn't wish them on anyone, Dora."
"But those things are happening again. If anything, they're going to get worse."
Remus wanted to tell her she was wrong, but he knew she wasn't. Dumbledore was gone. The one person who'd always kept Voldemort from going as far as he might have otherwise was gone. There was no telling what he'd do now. So instead, he took her hand and squeezed it.
"We'll be okay," he told her. "We have each other now."
"No more stupidity?"
"No more stupidity."
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