I’ve never liked how Tonks and Remus got together by a passionate plea to let true love reign supreme. Tonks was a clever and curious Auror. Remus was intelligent, cynical and principled (mostly). Plus Remus was right, Bill’s case was nothing like his. Much seems to be made about the scars because they were “ugly” as though that’s the reason why Remus felt he didn’t deserve happiness. I don’t think Remus hid the scars because he was ashamed of how he looked, Remus hid the scars because they invited unwanted and highly personal questions from people he didn’t even know all that well. He’d long since run out of sarcastic replies.
So basically, Remus thought Tonks deserved better in life than with someone “old and poor”, but he’s underestimated this curious and highly trained Auror who has a good instinct for investigative work.
This takes place after the hospital scene at the end of Book 6, where everyone rounds on Remus and basically tells him he’s being ridiculous.
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"Remus!" she called, chasing him along the corridor at Hogwarts.
"Yes?" Remus asked wearily, turning to walk slowly back towards her.
"I'm sorry I put you on the spot, I knew you wouldn't like it but you won't talk to me and I need to get your attention." Tonks said.
"I know it sounds lame to you, and to everyone else it seems, but I meant what I said. You deserve more." he said resignedly.
"But what about what I want?" she asked him.
"I can't offer you that kind of future. I offer you freedom instead."
"What about my freedom to choose you?"
Remus sighed and turned away.
"Wait! I still need to talk to you" she called to him.
"We're done Dora! Please. Don't make this any harder." he pleaded.
"I've been doing some research. About Wolfsbane. I've found some things out you'll want to know. You need to hear me out!"
"Does it have to be now?" he said exasperated.
"Perhaps you can check your schedule and see when you can fit me in?" she said, arching an eyebrow.
He was no match for her this morning. Resigned, he held open a door to an empty classroom for her and then followed her in.
"OK, so my job has been really awful lately. Standing around the gates of Hogwarts in the cold. Stuck in my own thoughts for hours on end. So I started wondering why Wolfsbane was so expensive and difficult to get hold of. I used the reason of needing the information on werewolves for protecting Hogwarts and put a request into the ministry records department to get more information on it. I found some really interesting things."
He nodded for her to continue.
"I started looking into their supply chain to see what made it so expensive. And found this." She pulled out a short roll of parchment and handed it to him. He looked at it and then turned it upside down, trying to read her writing "Oh I broke my auto-quill. I need to get a new one." she said, pointing at some of the words written.
"These names listed here are on the invoices for some of the supplies used by St Mungos to make some of their potions, like Wolfsbane. It shows apparently different suppliers, but these reference numbers are all sequential. So I checked the company names and they're registered to different addresses. No names on the actual company registration, which is strange enough. But the registered company Owls had a name to their registration, and it was one person."
Remus eyes widened as he recognised the name that the Tonks had scrawled in her messy handwriting. "Dolores Umbridge?" he whispered.
"It's effectively a cartel and she's charging an enormous amount of galleons for a couple of key ingredients that can be bought much more cheaply by others overseas."
Remus was shaking. His head light with fatigue and shock but his body filled with anger from years of stalled hopes and frustrations. Of increasing lycanthropy infections and the lack of any real ability to make decisions about his own future. He stood and started pacing the room and then kicked a chair clean across the classroom.
"I think this is why you and others have had so little success getting hold of Wolfsbane. Why it is so horrifically expensive. Their motivations are laid out all through ministry documents if you know what to look for. I made copies of them. I used an auto-quill so you can actually read those ones properly. It's how I broke it actually'. Her voice trailed off.
Remus sat back down, the adrenaline of the past 24 hours draining from him, staring at the floor.
Tonks watched him in silence for a moment.
"Look, if you want to walk away from me, from us. Then fine, I'll give you my information anyway and you do what you want with it. But if we're still a team, we know what we're dealing with now. We can fight for this together. Use the werewolf registry properly and open up widespread access to Wolfsbane Potion. Give werewolves real options, real choices.""
Remus sat holding his head in his hands for a very long time. He had been so sure in his decision and his path before him. He had set it in stone, despite the wishes of his friends, Dora and even his own. Prepared to be immovable in the face of all arguments. Finally he reached his arm out to her, she took his hand and he stood and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I've missed you so much" he whispered.
"I've missed you too" she said quietly.
"Marvellous! My argument was convincing then?" asked Minerva McGonagall, walking into her Transfiguration classroom.
"Very." said Remus.
