ElphabaROCKS didn't write this story, Fizzing Whizzbies did.
The Deaths of Nymphadora Tonks and Remus John Lupin
By fizzingwhizbees
DICLAIMER: I did not write Harry Potter, nor do I live in their world. Though if I did, Lupin wouldn't be dead, Tonks would be out of the picture, and somewhere in the nice little town of Hogsmeade there would be Lupin and Mrs. Lupin (aka Me) sitting down in the Three Broomsticks chugging butterbeer.
APOLOGY: I am sorry this is so depressing- I had to get this out of my system before I went too back in time to the happy stuff. Which will come later. I unbreakablely vow it.
"This is a wonderful pot roast, Nymphadora!" said Andromeda. Tonks's hair changed quickly from an exasperated green to an embarrassed purple. She hoped Remus and her mother wouldn't realize it was a roast Mrs. Weasly had made; all Tonks did was summon it.
"More butterbeer, Andromeda?" asked Remus attempting to prevent Tonks from any further anger related to her despised first name.
"Fill me up, Remus," answered Andromeda jauntily, already on her fourth flagon.
A bright flash of light interrupted the cheery meal. Teddy squealed and threw a glob of mashed peas at Remus's head. He didn't seem to notice. A small patronus tabby cat with unusual markings around the eyes appeared on the Tonks family dining room table. Tonks, in surprise, dropped the bottle of butterbeer she was pouring for Andromeda.
Glass shattered all over the floor, and a splash of butterbeer momentarily distorted the patronus. It spoke in Minerva McGonagall's voice. "Battle at Hogwarts. Death Eaters attacking. Imperative that you apparate to Hogshead Tavern. All other entrances blocked. Come quickly- Minerva." The cat vanished.
Remus absentmindedly reached up to touch the mash of peas in his hair. "Tonks, I'm going. I want you and Teddy to stay here, lay low. Why don't-"
"ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY YOU'RE LEAVING ME AND TEDDY AGAIN?" yelled Tonks, her hair changing colors so rapidly it was painful to watch.
Lupin answered, "No, not like last time, dearest, you must stay safe! For Teddy!"
Tonks faltered, looking down at Teddy, who was steadily shoveling peas in his mouth, his hair mimicking his mother's. "I-I guess you're right, Remus," she said slowly, her spiky (Now purple) hair growing limp and brown. Remus shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
"Don't do this to me, Dora!" Remus sighed dejectedly. He pulled her close and kissed her gently on the forehead. "You can do better than that, werewolf," she whispered, her hair returning to its original pink. Remus bent closer to Tonks, but caught a glimpse over Tonks shoulder of Andromeda staring interestedly at them as if they were an extremely absorbing television program. When Andromeda caught Remus and Tonks staring at her, as if reprimanding her for interrupting their goodbye, she rolled her eyes and began finding her pot roast incredibly distracting.
Remus abruptly kissed Teddy, took a few steps, turned on the spot, and vanished.
Tonks turned to her mother. Andromeda tore her eyes off her pot roast, and poured herself another glass of butterbeer. "Peas, Nymphie?"
Tonks buried her head in her arms and groaned.
***
Finally, Teddy had gotten to sleep! His hair changed quietly from pale blue to periwinkle to lilac. Tonks rose quietly and set Teddy gently in his crib. She peered in the sitting room, where her mother sat on a plush chair listening to the wireless, sipping a small glass of firewhiskey quietly. "Mum, please watch Teddy for me," By the time Andromeda had turned around, a look of surprise and confusion on her face, Tonks had vanished with a slightly mournful pop.
Tonks apparated right inside of the Hog's Head Tavern. Hogwarts students were pouring out of a passage like ants from an ant hole. Turning around, she bumped into a small, portly witch that could be none else than Neville Longbottom's grandmother. "Impudent young-" the elderly witch jabbered. She peered up. "Ah, NYMPHADORA!" Tonks visibly winced.
"We must get to the castle and fight for Hogwarts!" Tonks nodded. The two witches walked briskly to the passage way. When they hopped in the passage behind the painting, Tonks said, "Colloportus!" The door swung in with a bang.
"Lumos!" A light appeared from the tip of Mrs. Longbottom's wand. Tonks did so also, but not before bumping into the side of the tunnel. They emerged, panting, a good five minutes later, Tonks's shins bruised quite a bit from banging around in the tunnel. It was a room Tonks had never seen before- there were broomsticks, banners, hammocks, and many tables full of bandages, vials full of Essence of Dittany, bottles of Skele-grow, and other medicinal necessities. Ginny was bustling about, looking the picture of her mother, readying everything for victims of the battle that would soon be flooding in.
"Where are we?" wondered Tonks aloud.
"The Room of Requirement, of course," replied Ginny. "We come here when the Carrows get a bit feisty- Neville is a permanent resident- they're looking for blood next time with him, I think. But he's helped a bunch of people escape - if they're Muggleborn, he's made sure they can escape if the Carrows come looking," she ended.
Just then, Harry Potter burst into the Room of Requirement. " Ah, Potter," said Neville's grandmother crisply. "You can tell us what's going on."
"Is everyone okay?" asked Ginny and Tonks together.
"As far as I know," said Harry. "Are there still people in the passage to the Hog's Head?"
Mrs. Longbottom replied, "We were the last to come through, and I sealed it, thinking it unwise to leave it open now that Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?"
"He's fighting," said Harry.
"Naturally," said the old lady. "Excuse me, I must go and assist him." She departed for the stone steps. Harry turned to Tonks. "I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother's?"
"I couldn't stand not knowing---" Tonks looked anguished. "She'll look after him- have you seen Remus?"
"He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds---"
Tonks raced for the stairs. The grounds, the grounds, she thought. Harry, would it kill you to be a bit more specific? She raced down the moving staircases, sliding down when it was faster. She thought she would just duck into the Great Hall-
Total pandemonium met Tonk's sight. She skidded to a halt, and slipped on--her stomach lurched--bright red blood. There was no organization to the battle at all. Everyone was fighting as such close quarters it was hard to hit your target; either they would jump out of the way, or someone would jostle you and send your spell careening around the great hall.
Some idiot was dropping crystal balls on the Death Eaters' heads-crude, effective, but glass shards were scattered everywhere. "Reparo!" Tonks whispered, sweeping her wand quietly. The last thing she needed was a Death Eater to duel. The glass shards reconfigured into crystal balls, and a quick "Wingardium Leviosa" sent them right back up to the teacher who was dropping them. The teacher (oh my, was that The Owl?) nodded her thanks, and clunked another Death Eater on the head. Using Tonks's repairing trick, she summoned a slightly bloodstained crystal ball and continued bombarding the Death Eaters. Tonks tried to inch along the wall but slipped in blood again.
"Bloody hell," she murmured, chuckling at her own joke, but then realizing how horrible it was. She quickly cleaned most of the blood with her wand and hurried to see where she could help.
A scream made her turn around. A Hufflepuff was battling a Death Eater, and it wasn't much of a contest. Tonks cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself, took a few steps, and nonverbally disarmed him. The Hufflepuff quickly resumed battle, and now that the Death Eater had no wand, the tables were turned.
She was looking around for Remus when a petrified Death Eater fell at her feet. She looked up, and saw the sturdy looking Slytherin girl who had cast the spell was kneeling down to a small Gryffindor boy she had been protecting. Tonks tapped the Slytherin on the shoulder. The girl twisted around with wand extended, looking right at Tonks but somehow not seeing her. Tonks sighed and removed the disillusionment charm. "Try 'episkey'" said Tonks briskly, before the girl could make dragon meat out of her.
"Thanks," said the girl, nodding appreciatively, and went about tending to the boy's wounds. Looking around once more, she spotted Ginny, and swore. What was she doing here? Tonks made her way around the Great Hall, around to where Ginny was standing on a collapsed section of a wall, by a broken window. My, that girl was good at Bat-Boegy Hexes!
She again removed the disillusionment charm and said, "Wotcher, Ginny," Ginny looked pale as she waved hello, but kept on shooting various curses, jinxes, and hexes onto the chaotic crowd below. From here, it was easier to keep aim, and Tonks picked off a few Death Eaters before the giants appeared.
Tonks heard, "I hope he steps on some of them!" That could only be Ron.
"As long as it's not any of our lot!" Ginny squinted, took aim, and hit a Death Eater full in the face. Aberforth ran past with a group of students in his wake. "Good girl!" he roared.
Tonks shouted hoarsely, "Have you seen Remus?!"
"He was dueling Dolohov, and I haven't seen him since!" called back Aberforth, running off.
Ginny turned to her. "Tonks- Tonks, I'm sure he's okay-"
But Tonks was sprinting madly after Aberforth, screaming, "WHERE EXACTLY IS DOLOHOV?" Aberforth had already disappeared into the crowd. Tonks ran up a hallway after him, but ended up crashing into a pale-blonde Ravenclaw, who she recognized as Luna Lovegood.
"Have you seen Lupin?" Tonks said, panting. Luna thought a second, and replied dreamily, "Oh, I think he was dueling Dolohov on the grounds – around Hagrid's." She casually flicked her wand, causing a nearby Death Eater to be hurtled into a wall. Tonks took off running again, leaving Luna with a slightly bemused expression on her face. She burst out of the castle and ran toward Hagrid's hut.
Just then Tonks spotted Lupin.
Remus was furiously dueling Dolohov. Purple flames rained down upon him, but he always managed to jump out of the way or expertly rebound the curse in another direction. Rips occasionally appeared in the ratty robes Lupin insisted upon wearing, but thankfully none were bloodstained. Dolohov had a good many slashes in his Death Eater robes, and sometimes one of Lupin's curses would hit their mark and Dolohov would loose a finger or a chunk of his nose.
"REMUS!" screamed Tonks.
Lupin turned, a horrified expression on his face.
Dolohov roared with laughter, and shot one of his specialty curses at Lupin.
The curse hit its mark.
Lupin crashed to the ground.
"NO!" screamed Tonks. She spotted Flitwick at the doors to the Great Hall, killing a few Death Eaters trying to escape. "FLITWICK, HELP ME," she yelled, tears streaming down her face. Dolohov at this point was advancing on her, wand drawn. He staggered as a blue flash from the castle doors hit his knee, and then fell with a strobe of green light.
Flitwick squeaked from the doors, "You will do no more murder to the family of Lupin!" Then he retreated back into the Great Hall.
Tonks knelt down by Lupin, ripping open his robes, looking for any visible signs of damage. There were none – so Tonks concluded to her utmost misery he was dead. Tonks lay her head on his chest and sobbed, so overwhelmed by grief she failed to notice a faint heartbeat under her hand.
"So, I see someone has done me the kind favor of ridding the world of your werewolf scum," a nasty voice taunted her from behind.
Tonk's now lank brown hair shrouding her tearstained face, she said in a voice filled with pain – low and dead sounding, "Do not ever talk about Remus like that. Or I will kill you."
Bellatrix laughed hysterically. "Is little niece dealing out the death threats now? I thought that was my job!" Raising her wand, she yelled, "Crucio!"
Tonks did not move. There was nothing that could possibly be any more painful than this.
Bellatrix frowned. "Ooh, someone is being a hard nut to crack! Maybe I should just Imperius curse you, and have you kill that little half-breed kid of yours. That should be fun to watch!"
Tonks staggered to her feet, gripping her wand so tightly her knuckles were bone white. "You w-will never lay a hand on Teddy! NEVER-" Tonks had screamed so much that night her voice was hoarse. "C-crucio!" whispered Tonks, her voice giving out.
The curse missed Bellatrix by a good foot. She walked up to Tonks and snatched her wand directly out of her hands. Hitting Tonks full force on her head, she made her fell to her knees. Bellatrix cackled mercilessly. "I think this will be more fun without magic!" Pulling a dagger from her cloak, she slashed Tonk's arm.
"Prune the tree! Prune the tree!" taunted Bellatrix. Tonks did not respond. Bellatrix proceeded to slash her other arm, then slapped her across the face for good measure. The fun quickly came to an end, though, when Bellatrix realized Tonks was not screaming or begging for mercy, something most of her victims tended to do.
"Fun's over, Nymphadora!" hissed Bellatrix, pulling her arm back and thrusting her dagger directly in Tonks's heart. Bellatrix spat at her and strode back to the castle. Tonks felt the dagger, but she smiled as she thought of Teddy. I hope he grows up to look like his father…
Lupin jolted back into consciousness. Why he wasn't dead yet, he hadn't a clue, but whatever Dolohov's curse had done wasn't good. He turned his head painfully and caught sight of Tonks. "What have they done…" he whispered, horrified, knowing she was dead. Using the last drops of energy left in his body, he inched toward Tonks.
He smiled down on her face, just wishing they had more time. He straightened her arms and legs so she looked more natural – she could have been sleeping, if not for all of the blood. He then lay down next to her, taking her cold hand in his. Giving her one last kiss on the cheek, he lay his head down on the chill ground, closed his eyes, thought of Tonks, and waited for death to come.
THE END