He shut the door carefully behind him. Tonks immediately locked it and placed the usual protective spells the moment he left, as was protocol during the war. An hour and half remained until the full moon would appear in the sky- Remus always left quite early- but that only left Tonks more time to worry not only for her husband's safety, but for their son's as well. It was ten days after Teddy Lupin's birth, and the first full moon since then. Though she long insisted that no, their son could never be a werewolf, the thought lingered in the back of her mind, and plagued her husband, who was convinced from the moment she told him of her pregnancy that he had doomed an innocent child.
Before he had left, Remus had told her with no uncertainty that she could not be with Teddy during the hours of the full moon.
"He could bite you!" Remus had said, almost crying the words out as he paced back and forth. "We don't know what could happen."
"Exactly, he could be fine, and scared without his mother," Tonks insisted, glancing over to the corner where their sleeping son lay in his bassinet.
In all of his years since meeting Nymphadora Tonks, Remus had questioned who among them was truly the Gryffindor and who was the Hufflepuff. Here he was, fretting (with good reason, he would add) while his wife would not leave their child.
"Dora," Remus sighed, trying to reason with her. "Dora, if he does transform, you won't be able to handle seeing him. Hearing him, even. Transforming, it's, it's like nothing I could describe. There's no words for the unbearable pain-"
He stopped when he noticed tears forming in his wife's eyes.
Tonks moved towards her husband, and they enveloped each other in their arms, not speaking until Dora choked out, "What if he dies?"
He didn't say anything for a moment. "He won't, I promise," Remus said, fully aware that Tonks would not believe a word of that lie.
"Even- even if he does transform, there's nothing that can be done," Remus explained delicately. "Things will only be infinitesimally worse if he bites you. He'll have to handle this on his own."
Tonks did not put her worries into words, just staying close to Remus until he had to apparate to some distant forest free of any human population. The war had made it almost impossible to leave the house, let alone find any Wolfsbane Potion.
Teddy had yet to be locked away, as there was still time before the moonrise and Tonks insisted on feeding him before leaving, not wanting to him to be hungry throughout the night. As it was, the night in the room would be the longest he would go without feeding since his birth.
Andromeda Tonks was tasked by her son-in-law to ensure that Teddy would be put in an empty room. The young family had been staying in her protected home, and she had already brought a crib up to the spare bedroom. Her daughter was holding the baby, nursing him while blinking back tears, her mother holding her hand.
After some time spent in silence, Andromeda turned her heads towards the wooden clock on the mantle. "It's time," she said solemnly, motioning for Nymphadora to hand Teddy over, knowing that her daughter would not have the courage to do so. She fought bravely as an Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, but Andromeda knew that Dora's love for her son blinded her to the realities of the situation.
She hesitated, drawing the baby closer to her.
"Dora, please," her mother begged. "Remus told me to do so. He knows just how dangerous this could be."
She slowly relented, relaxing her grip to allow her mother to take Teddy.
"I need your wand as well."
Tonk's eyes widened, and realization of those word's meaning hit her. "No, you can't do that," she said forcefully. "No, I need to be able to get in there if something goes wrong."
"Dora, this is for your safety and Teddy's," Andromeda implored. "Think of Remus: what would he do if he came home and you had been bitten?"
She knew that her mother was right, but giving over her ability to open the door to see her baby was among the hardest moments in Nymphadora's life. She shakily handed Andromeda the cherry wood wand and watched as her mother and son disappeared up the staircase.
Tonks covered her face in her hands, fearful not only for her husband but now for her child. The few times Remus had described transforming, Tonks began to worry at the very thought that the one she loved the most undergoing agony every month, with no way for her to help him. The idea of her small, beautiful son experiencing the same excruciating pain tore at her heart. Tonks once thought that Remus rejecting her was the worst moment of her life, but that heartbreak couldn't compare to distress the full moon was causing her.
The young woman heard her mother coming down the stairs. "He's safe now," she told her daughter, moving to sit down next to her on the couch.
Tonks nodded mutely at her mother's words. She turned her head towards the window, where she could see the moon beginning to rise. The two women sat without speaking, Andromeda stroking her daughter's arm.
The child started to cry from upstairs. A loud, ceaseless wail had begun. Tonks stood up within half a second of hearing it, instinctually reaching to her pocket for her wand before remembering that her mother had taken it.
"I need my wand," Tonks said frantically, her voice quavering. "I need my wand!"
Andromeda reached out to try to grab her daughter's shoulders. "Dora, there's nothing you can do!"
"I need my wand!" Tonks insisted, pulling away from her mother and stumbling forward. All she could think of was that she needed to get into that room, to hold her little boy.
Tonks began to run towards the stairs, and Andromeda threw a stunning spell at her daughter, but she dodged the spell well, having been expertly trained by Aurors and Order members. Andromeda kept yelling out, trying to reason with Tonks as she ran after her up the stairs.
Tonks began to pound at the door, attempting to break it down. Teddy's wails only grew louder in response to the commotion outside of the room.
"Dora! Dora, you can't get in there-" Andromeda stopped mid-sentence when her wand suddenly flew from her grasp with a strangled cry of "expelliarmus!" Nymphadora, always adept at using wandless magic- especially in times of crisis- clumsily caught the wand and pointed it at the door.
"No-!" Andromeda leapt towards Nymphadora, terrified that both her daughter and grandson would be hurt, die even, if they were in the same room.
Tonks pointed Andromeda's wand at her with a shaking hand and cried out "stupefy!" She watched as the woman fell backwards, her face terror-stricken as she watched helplessly as her daughter unlocked the door.
Tonks shook the doorknob violently, and when it would not budge she began casting unlocking spells, ranging from alohomora to more advanced ones taught to her by Mad Eye.
Finally, one of the spells broke her mother's protective charms, and Tonks flung the door open. Teddy's wails only increased with the sound of the sudden intruder running towards him.
Tonks reached the side of his crib, and with the light of her wand saw her baby's face: smooth, soft skin unmarred by coarse hair, a nose instead of a snout, and fists- clawless fists, balled up from crying.
She cried out in relief, reaching down to her son and cradling him in her arms. "Mummy's here," she said hoarsely, pulling him close to her chest. "It's alright, Mummy's with you."
Andromeda staggered through the doorway, the hex having worn off. She looked at her daughter and grandson, eyes wide with fear.
Tonks turned around, tears forming as she nodded, affirming that yes, he was fine, that everything would be okay.
Andromeda dropped to the floor, exhaling in relief. Though she had just battled her only child, everything was fine: the child had been crying for some reason other than transforming. Tonks moved towards her, rocking her son back in forth as the two women sat on the carpet, holding each other throughout the night without moving. Teddy's wailing began to subside, and he fell asleep in his mother's arms, while she laid her head on her own mother's shoulder
The moon had fallen and sun had appeared, all while the three had clung to each other on the floor. Besides their initial exclamations of joy at the sight of an untransformed Teddy, the two women had lapsed into silence, and both jumped at the sound of the door unlocking.
"Remus!" Tonks breathed, standing up. She handed her mother the child before she descended the stairs, clinging to the railing.
She had reached the bottom floor just as her husband was deactivating the protective charms. The final one required an inhabitant already inside the house to allow him in, and the entire family had devised questions to prevent impostors from entering.
"Remus?" she asked tentatively through the door.
"Love?" responded a voice she without a doubt identified as her husband's.
Her heart leapt with the thought that he had gotten through another moon. "Remus, what was the name I suggested for Teddy had he been a girl?" she posed their rehearsed question.
"Julia Hope Lupin- because you would never let a child of ours have Nymphadora as a middle name."
She flung open the door and wrapped her arms around Remus, who staggered backwards slightly, still weak from his transformation. He embraced her back, holding her tightly, afraid to ask what had happened. He hesitated for a moment before whispering, "Is he alright?"
She looked up at him and nodded vigorously, and his eyes widened. All of his fears were disproven, his son had not inherited his condition.
"He's safe!" Remus beamed, unable to contain his joy. He entered the house and shut the door behind him, rushing through restoring the protective spells (one could never be too safe during the war) before looking at his mother-in-law descending the stairs, holding a now stirring Teddy Lupin.
Andromeda smiled at the rejoicing father, and placed the small child in his arms.
"You're safe, Teddy," Remus said to his son as his wife wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You just made your father the happiest man on earth, do you know that?"
Teddy squinted at his father, his small face scrunched up.
"He's smiling at you," Tonks asserted.
"You sure about that?" her husband asked, bemused. "I think he's just annoyed that he's been woken up"
"Well, I'm smiling, so that makes one of us," Tonks said, stroking her son's soft, currently dark brown hair.
"So am I," Remus responded. He kept glancing from his wife by his side to his son in his arms, both of their relieved smiles still present. "He's safe. He's wonderful. And we've survived another night."