All Books End, But Their Stories Continue

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or storyline of Harry Potter

Nymphadora Lupin (nee Tonks)

16th June, 1996

It was three o'clock in the morning and Tonks was sat at the kitchen table of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, a cup of hot chocolate nestled between her hands. And what was the reason for her to be up at such an ungodly hour? Mad-Eye bloody Moody, that's what! She had just completed her twelve hour shift at the Ministry of Magic when a Patronus came in from Mad-Eye saying that she was needed for guard duty tonight patrolling Islington High Street where a lot of anti-muggle crime had been reported. She only accepted as it was a two hour shift with Mundungus Fletcher taking over at quarter to one, but as Mundungus was two hours late she decided to crash at Grimmauld Place as it was only a few streets away and she was just too tired to Disapparate. Once she had safely made her way into the kitchen, without knocking over a single object, Tonks boiled some water and sat at the wooden table. She could not believe that she had been working for almost seventeen hours without rest; sometime she really did not know what processed her to join the Auror Department or the Order of the Phoenix. It was as this thought was going through her mind that Remus Lupin entered the kitchen, his greying brown hair mused with sleep, "Nymphadora, what brings you here at this time of night?" he offered her a sleepy smile and went to make his own hot chocolate.

Tonks surprisingly didn't mind her name when he spoke it and watched him as he sat himself down opposite her, "Moody put me on last minute guard duty only Mundungus was supposed to take over at quarter to one but he didn't enlighten me with his appearance until quarter to three. So sweet little old me decided crash with my lovely older cousin and his amazingly kind best friend as well as steal some of their hot chocolate powder, not that they'll mind as they are the sweetest most generous men in history. And I will also try not to be a giant pain in said men's arses" Tonks smiled innocently up at him then and batted her eyelashes causing the older man to snort with laughter.

"Well Nymphadora, you most certainly are not a pain to me." Remus smiled genuinely at the pink haired witch sat across from him.

"You have to say that because I am you're best friend's baby cousin, the one you agreed to marry when she was five." The witch laughed, causing Remus to blush scarlet at the memory.

"That's actually not true, when I look at you I do not see Sirius's younger cousin Tonksie, I see a strong, brave, independent woman who would do anything for the ones she cares about." With this he stood and flashed her yet another smile, "Goodnight Dore." And with that he turned and walked out of the kitchen leaving Tonks to her thoughts. I guess he's right she though a lot has changed since I was little five year old Tonksie, I should probably focus more on becoming the woman that I am than trying to hold onto the past.

2nd May, 1998

She did not know where she was and, for the time being, she did not care where she was. All she knew was that her head felt as though it had been smashed in with a wooden bat, the type that Muggles use, and that there was a bloody annoying light behind her eyelids that kept on flickering on and off. After a few minutes of the annoying orangey glow blinking in and out of existence, Nymphadora To- No-Lupin finally opened her eyes to be greeted with the rather distressing sight of the decrepit and decaying ceiling of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Bugger, she thought as her memories began to click into place, I can't believe that bloody mental bitch actually did it, for one moment she was in the middle of the battle at Hogwarts duelling Bellatrix Lestrange and the next she was lying spread across the lumpy, cold, disgustingly filthy stone floor of her late cousin's, as well as her husband's, old kitchen. There was only one explanation for it; she, Nymphadora Lupin née Tonks, was dead and she bloody hoped that the bitch that killed her would be sent to hell sometime in the very near future!

Tonks knew that she shouldn't have been there, she thought that really as soon as she stepped outside of the Room of Requirement with Ginny. The castle was in ruins, the place that had been her home for seven years of her adolescence was slowly but surely crumbling to dust. She knew deep down inside that Remus was right; it was her responsibility as a mother to say at home with Teddy to make sure that she could see him grow up, but she couldn't help it; she needed to be there fighting next to her friends and her husband, it was her duty as an Order member and a Auror. Her decision to fight was truly cemented once Aberforth told her that Remus was in a duel against Dolohov.

She sped through the once familiar, now barely recognisable corridors of a now broken Hogwarts in search of her husband and once she found him a great wave of relief hit her to see that he was most definitely still alive though in an equally skilled duel against Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle. Tonks sharply inhaled, stopping in her tracks to get to Remus and the two Death Eaters when she saw the fatal flash of green light cast by Rowle narrowly miss her husband by a hair's width. It was due to this inhale that the three men noticed her presence, all three wizards stopped duelling for a second to stare at her but using this to his advantage, Remus quickly lifted his wand to send the two Death Eaters crashing into the hard stone wall behind them. Due to her attention being on the two crumpled, bleeding figures Tonks did not notice the moment that her husband walked over to her until she felt his thin fingers clasp gently yet firmly around her upper arm to drag her to a nearby alcove, "Dora what on earth are you doing here? I thought that we agreed that it would be for the best that you stay home with Teddy." Tonks couldn't help it, she reached both her arms around his neck and hugged him, she did not care that they were in the middle of a battle – if this was her last night on earth she was going to hug her husband on more time, Merlin be damned! To her surprise she felt Remus's arms reach around her small frame, one hand resting on her lower back while the other was tangled in her hair, "I needed you to stay at home, don't you realise how much danger you are in whilst you are here?"

She sighed knowing that he was going to say something like this, "You know Remus John Lupin that it was entirely selfish to leave me at home whilst you were here putting yourself in danger, after all you can't have all the fun." She felt his body vibrate as he gave a soft chuckle, "Besides I have to fight, this is the reason we've been going to all those order meetings for the past bloody three years and why I endured three years with good ol' Mad-Eye shouting Constant Vigilance at me every five minutes."

"But what about your mum and Teddy they need you back with them," he broke the hug to look down into her eyes with his concerned ones, "they won't be able to cope without you or me." There it was, the guilt, it crashed into her like a Firebolt at full speed. What if something happened to both her and Remus? Would their son resent them for abandoning him? Would her mother manage? After all it had only been a few months since the death of her husband, would she be able to handle the deaths of her daughter and son-in-law as well? But her mind was made up and to prove that she drew her wand out of her cloak and pointed it towards a nearby Death Eater that had not sensed the pair hidden between the two walls. "Stupefy" she screamed as she ran back into the corridor, Remus not far behind her casting another stunning spell towards a hard faced woman who was duelling an underage Hogwarts girl. It was only then that Tonks noticed that the two Death Eaters Remus had previously knocked unconscious were no longer in a heap by the wall. She swirled round, shoulder-length pink hair flapping at the movement, to find that both Dolohov and Rowle, who was now sporting a badly bleeding lip, were fully conscious once again and were both preparing to point their wands at her unaware husband. Just as two streams of lights erupted from their wands, Tonks jumped between the curses and Remus and quickly put up a shield charm before the spells could reach them. Tonks could feel Remus spin around in time to see the jets of green get defected but her exhilaration at casting the spell was quickly dampened when she saw who was now stood between her two fellow Death Eaters.

"Well, well, well, wasn't that just sickeningly adorable the brat of my bloodtraitor sister and that mudblood throwing herself in front of two killing curses to save her beloved pet dog." Bellatrix Lestrange looked as mad as ever; her wild black hair framed her cruel pale face that was plastered with an evil, twisted smirk, her heavily lidded eyes held a sickeningly murderous gleam. Her wand was held aloft. Her attention turned to Rowle, "The Dark Lord demands your presence in the Forbidden Forrest, I suggest you go there immediately." With that she dismissed him and once again focus her cold stare on the Lupins in front of her "You wouldn't believe how long I've wanted to blast you out of my way, you and your pet dog, I cannot believe how easy this is going to be, maybe later I'll dispose of your little freak mutt as well." That was the final straw. Tonks couldn't take any more of the pain that Bellatrix was verbally inflicting on her and raised her wand, simultaneously with Remus.

"Expelliarmus"

Tonks felt her wand get dragged out of her hand by the spells impact and heard the soft clatter as it hit the stone floor behind her along with Remus's. Her heart sank and her breath caught in her throat before her heart started to pound ferociously against her chest. They were trapped. Her and Remus were going to die. She felt Remus's fingers clasp firmly around her hand and she turned her head into his shoulder but not before she saw the emerald flash erupt from both Bellatrix and Dolohov's wands.

She shut here eyes once again. She felt as though by closing her eyes she could stop it playing over and over in her mind. The memory. The reminder that she had lost her husband, left her mother and abandoned her baby boy. She could feel the tears trailing down her face but it took her a few minutes to realise that she was crying. As soon as she covered her eyes with her palms and cried even harder. She was startled when she felt a gentle hand rest on her shoulder and heard a smooth, unfamiliar voice say whisper into her ear, "Hey, hey Nymphadora its alright, I promise you being dead isn't all that bad once you get used to it."

Her Auror instincts kicked in then and she jabbed the person behind her in the ribs before rocketing to her feet, her wand that had somehow ended up in her jeans, at the ready. She was astonished to see a young, pale, black haired man clutching at his ribs curled onto the floor, muttering profanities with his face scrunched up in agony.

"And that Regulus is why I told you to never startle an Auror, especially one that I trained personally. If there's one thing Nymphadora know it is to have Constant Vigilance." To say that the very familiar gravelly voice surprised Tonks would have been an understatement, it absolutely astounded her. "Then again girly if you were that vigilant you won't have ended up her, would yer?"

Tonks spun round to be greeted with the sight of her beloved mentor who she promptly jumped at and gathered in a massive hug. "It's great to see you Mad-Eye, I've missed you so much," she sighed into the grizzly hair that had not changed in death; she could feel tears start to swim in her eyes once again.

At first Tonks could tell by his stiff frame that Mad-Eye was shocked by her sudden burst of emotional affection but he then proceeded to pat he awkwardly on the back, "I've missed you to girly, I am sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed it." Throughout Tonks' whole life many things unexpected things happened to her - he first being when her favourite cousin was locked up in Azkaban for helping in the murder of his best friend, then during her last week of Hogwarts she found out that her best mate had been accepted to work at a dragon reservation in Romania meaning she would most likely never see him again, then fourteen years after his imprisonment she was reunited with her cousin, then she met and fell in love with his werewolf best friend, that led to her heart getting broken by him on several occasions, this eventually led to their marriage and her pregnancy, her father died, Teddy was born, then she died - but the one constant she could always rely on was the man who she was now clinging onto. Since the day she stumbled into the Auror department on her first day of Auror training he had become a second father to her and his death had hurt her just as much as her own fathers. She was just so glad to have something familiar in the place of the unknown.

"I hate to break up such a lovely moment," the unfamiliar voice of the boy that Tonks had injured spoke up again but instead of being soft and comforting it was hard and sounded quite annoyed, "But do I have to remind you Alastor that Dumbledore said that we should tell Little Miss Bony Elbows over there everything about this place before my bloody brother and his band of misfits arrive so we can all go down to Hogwarts together. I for one want to see Voldemort get killed once and for all and I hope that my idiot brother's godson can do just that." With those words Tonks knew exactly who this man was before Moody's confirmation.

"For heaven's sake Regulus Black the girls been her barely five minutes, you and I both know that it takes a while to get used to being here!" Regulus didn't say anything and instead rolled his cool, light blue eyes. Now that she knew who he was, Nymphadora could easily spot the family resemblance between Sirius and Regulus; the same slightly wavy black hair; the same pale faces; the same handsome bone structure, the only difference between the two being that where Sirius's eyes were a silvery grey, Regulus's were blue.

Mad-Eye's attention soon snapped back to her and Tonks cringed slightly under the now questioning gaze of both the small beady eye and the whizzing electric blue mechanical one. "Sheesh Mad-Eye you'd think that in death you'd want to get rid of that thing," she shuddered gesturing towards the magical eye.

"Well Nymphadora I was offered the chance of having my old eye back but I told them where they could shove that useless old thing. This eye has been my tool to survival for many decades and I am sure it will get me through death in one piece as well." With that the blue eye did an unnatural rotation that made Tonks's stomach churn.

"You do know that's disgusting don't you Mad-Eye," she remarked causing the ex-Auror to smirk, "Anyway onto the many questions that I would like to know the answer of, the first of which is this: why the hell does death or heaven or whatnot look like the kitchen of Grimmauld Place?!"

This question caused Regulus to clear his throat and step closer to his younger second cousin. "I do believe that I can answer that one. The next life is near enough like the last one in the aspect that you work, eat, sleep, love, etc, etc, the only difference being is that you cannot die. Along with all those things from the previous life, objects can also be found here such as personal processions, like your wand, and buildings, such as Grimmauld Place and Hogwarts. Now as to why you are here in my house right now that is to do with you yourself. The place where you wake up is personal and depends on who you are, they are known as your Spiritual Bridge and is usually based off of a place where something important happened that changed you as an individual – I, myself, woke up in the cave where I died as it was there that I ultimately made the decision to stop fighting for Voldemort and to start fighting for the right side. Obviously at some point in your life you made a life changing decision in this very kitchen."

Tonks was astonished, she knew that the event that changed her life was when she decided to stop acting like Sirius's baby cousin and instead become the strong, brave woman she knew she could be. The kitchen door opened with a slight creak and a few moments later Tonks felt familiar arms wrap around her shoulders and inhaled the scent of woodland, old parchment and chocolate that she knew so well. When she turned her head, Tonks was not at all surprised to be greeted with presence of her husband. Remus Lupin appeared to be in his early twenties with his hair styled how Tonks remembered him as a child, just long enough to tie back with fringe falling into his shining chocolate brown eyes, not a single grey hair in sight. Tonks stared at him taking in his appearance as, for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, tears started to form in her eyes as their circumstances truly hit her for the first time that night. "We're dead. This is actually happening. Our son is going to have to grow up without any parents and it's all my fault. You told me I shouldn't have been there but I didn't listen. My mum's going to be all alone. I'm never going to finish that blasted report for the Order because I'm really dead."

Remus gave her a sad smile and reached his right thumb up to brush away her tears, "Shh Dora its fine. Teddy will be fine, neither he nor your mother will be alone as they've both got each other – not only that – Harry says he'll look out for them. I am so sorry that we won't be there for Teddy but at least we've got one thing," As Tonks's expression changed to that of confusion his expression turned into a wide genuine smile "we've got each other." And with that he leaned down to kiss her.

I'm sorry if this story is a bit all over the place it was written at like 3am so I will go back over any mistakes. Hope you've enjoyed it :)