'You shouldn't have come,' Remus repeated, twitching.
He and Tonks were leaning on a vast stone balcony in Hogwarts, watching as the castle's stone soldiers marched to the perimeter.
'I wanted to be with you,' Tonks replied. 'I couldn't bear to sit there and let you head off into battle alone.'
'I wasn't alone,' Remus snapped. 'I was with the other Aurors.'
'I'm an Auror too. I don't understand why you're so upset all of a sudden. You were pleased to see me a moment ago,' Tonks said stubbornly.
Remus looked at her with both love and pain in his eyes, and reached across to touch her arm. 'I am still pleased to see you. You give me strength and bravery when I forget how to find them, and I have never been so devoted to anyone more than in this very moment, I promise you. You cannot understand what it means to me that you would come and fight by my side. But it is the wrong thing to do.'
'How is it wrong? I won't let Teddy lose you, Remus, he needs a father.'
'And what happens if Teddy loses both parents tonight?' Remus demanded, anguished and unable to help himself. 'Did you think of that? An orphan, our only son! He has precious other family!'
Tonks smiled at him warmly. 'Remus, that isn't going to happen. We won't let it happen –Teddy needs us, so we'll just have to live through this, like it or not.'
He looked away, breathing heavily, tears in his eyes. She leaned across to kiss his cheek.
'We'll fight together. Just like always.'
'Just like always,' Remus echoed. 'Nymphadora, I love you.'
She punched him in the arm playfully. 'Don't call me Nymphadora!'
He looked about to kiss her then when light exploded in the distance, and a crackle of sparks arched over the magical force-field surrounding their old home. Tonks and Remus spread a little further apart by instinct, exchanging a look of both panic and exhilaration. This was it.
'Stay safe,' Remus told her, eyes holding on to her face.
Tonks brandished her wand, focused on the sky. 'You too, Remus.'
Remus nodded and started to run to alert the others of the oncoming breach, as they had agreed. Tonks stayed, prepared for attacks from the sky.
It was the last time they saw one another, Tonks and Remus. They were braced for war, hearts pumping, adrenaline coursing through their veins like fire, their baby's face with his colourful hair at the forefront of both of their minds.
They would fight for Teddy. They would live for him, they had to. They had to do everything to stay alive, just for tonight.
They would all be reunited in the morning, Tonks thought firmly.