Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Written for;
Flash Fiction Challenge - RemusTonks
Valentine Making Station - Yellow Ribbon - A Hufflepuff
The Cinema Competition - The Dark Knight - Angst
The Game Is On - The Sign of the Four - Any of the Marauders.
200 Characters in 200 Days - Nymphadora Tonks
Reaching Out
"I have to go, Dora, you know I do," Remus whispered, holding his wife tightly in his arms.
"Let me come with you," she pleaded. "I'm an Auror, Remus. I can protect myself."
"Our son needs you," Remus replied, glancing across the room at the still tiny baby in the bassinet. "If anything should happen to me, you need to be here to raise him."
"You can't expect me to just sit here and wait!"
Leaning back, Remus gently raised her head until their eyes met. Hers were brimming with tears, angry or scared, or more likely both. "Dora. I love you. Let me protect you, just this once."
"I can't."
"You must."
He kissed her deeply before abruptly letting go, crossing the room in a few strides to kiss his son's head and whisper a few words of love. Moving to the door, Remus looked back.
"I love you."
"Mum, stay with Teddy. I won't let Remus kill himself."
Tonks dressed in her best dragon hide, an Auror graduation gift from Moody, as her mother glared at her.
"I've already lost your father, Dora. Please... don't go. Teddy needs you!"
"I'm sorry, mum," she replied, hugging her mother tightly but briefly. She walked the same path her husband had taken just minutes earlier, and as he did, she turned back. "If... if we don't... make sure he knows that we fought for him. Tell him we fought to make the world a better place for him to grow up in. And make sure he knows just how much we adore him."
Andromeda hesitated for a moment, a single tear falling down her cheek.
"I will."
He raced through the halls of Hogwarts, ducking, diving and dodging away from stray curses and spells. Minutes earlier he'd heard someone shouting his wife's name, and he wanted, no, needed to know that it was a trick of his mind. He needed to know that she was safe at home with her mother and son, keeping herself and them safe.
Of course, in his heart, he knew that it hadn't been a trick. Dora was stubborn and she fought for what she believed to be the right thing. Even as he turned a corner and laid eyes on her, he knew he couldn't be mad at her for ignoring his request to stay away.
He reached a hand out for her, calling her name..."
She turned at the sound of her husband calling her name, saw him reach a hand out towards her. She took a step, not seeing the green light...
He watched, his warning a second too late, as she was hit in the side. Two more steps and he would reach her, he would bring her back to life if only he could reach her...
Remus and Tonks were laid out in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, their hands still reaching for each other.