Andromeda Tonks watched through the window. It had to be late in the evening, she could see the last of the sun's rays disappearing behind the mountain. She also could see the moon, though faint, shine above her daughter, Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, and her husband, Remus Lupin.
Dora was a stubborn girl. She always had been. She hated her name, so she always went by her surname, Tonks. Her stubbornness was the very reason she had fresh, hot tears streaming down her face as she screamed for her husband to stay. The war against Voldemort would all go down tonight, and Remus wanted to go and fight. And fight he would.
"No," Tonks screamed. "You can't go!"
"I have to," Remus responded, "You know I have to, Dora," he said gently, trying to calm his hysteric wife.
Tonks shook her bubblegum pink hair vigorously. Remus felt a sting of guilt when one of her many tears hit his hand. "No!" she cried, again. "No, Remus, you could stay. Stay with me, with my mother, and our son, Teddy! Please, stay! We could put spells-"
Again, Remus shook his head, his dark hair falling into his scarred face and dark eyes. "Dora, sweet, I have to go, you know that," he told her softly.
"Why?" she wailed, tackling him in a hug.
"Because, Tonks. I never ever got the chance to avenge them. You know, James, Lily, Sirius. All the pain that Harry was put through, and he's only seventeen. I have to fight back," he said, hugging her tightly.
He could barely make out her words as she said them into his shirt, "Then I'll go, too. I'll fight with you, if I can't make you stay."
Remus pushed her away from him, staring into her eyes, which were bloodshot from crying. "No," he said firmly. "You will stay here, and I'll be home tomorrow, I promise."
He pulled her in for one last kiss, then disappeared with a loud crack. Tonks felt a whole new set of tears coming on as she rushed back into her mother's house.
She pulled her young son away from his grandmother and held him close, crying into his blue hair. Like his mother, Teddy Remus Lupin was a metamorphagus, meaning he could change his appearance at will. He was barely a month old and his wild hair took a liking to blue, just as Tonks's hair was normally pink. Right now, it changed every few seconds, as she had trouble grasping hold on her ability when she was unhappy.
Like now, when her husband just left her to fight in a war.
Andromeda patted her daughter's back, murmuring comforting words to her as she led her to the couch in front of the fireplace. Tonks still held Teddy close, even though she had stopped crying at her mother's words. The three sat down on the couch, silent except for Tonks's occasional sniffs.
"I have to go," Tonks said suddenly, startling her mother.
"W-w-what?" Andromeda stuttered.
"I have to go," she repeated, handing Teddy to Andromeda. "Take care of him, will you, mother?"
Andromeda found herself nodding and saying, "I'll leave to door unlocked, so just come right in and I'll know that you survived hell," she told Dora, her voice shaking.
Her daughter nodded in turn. She kissed Teddy's head, causing him to stir in his sleep.
"I'll just come right in. I love you," Dora said. She snatched her wand from the side table, running to the door. Just as she reached it, she looked back and said with a shaky voice, "And, Mother, if I don't make it back, when Teddy's older, tell him I love him and I never wanted to leave. I love you both, so much."
And, with that, Andromeda's daughter was gone. Just like her father had been the night he was murdered. The last of the sun's rays were gone the moment Dora was, almost as if she was being mourned already by the sun.
Andromeda sat there, Teddy in her arms, all night. She watched the stars come out, one by one, until she saw each one. Never, not once did the two people stir. Once, around four in the morning, she thought she heard a wolf's howl shortly followed by a strangled cry of a woman. Andromeda quickly dismissed the idea, mentally scolding herself for thinking such things. Her baby Dora would come home in the morning. She would. She had to.
She didn't know how long she sat there, and to this day she didn't remember what she thought about that night, only that it was very happy yet depressing thoughts of Nymphadora. She remembered all of her birthdays, the day she went off to Hogwarts. The day she graduated as a proud Hufflepuff. When she had been accepted for Auror training. When she actually passed with amazing grades and became and Auror. When she joined the Order of the Phoenix against the Ministry. Her wedding day. The day she found out she was having Teddy. The day Teddy was born. Andromeda remembered everything she could about her daughter that night as she sat there of the couch, cold and still as stone.
Andromeda was startled by the light that swamped the room. It seemed she hadn't noticed the night ending and the next day starting. The only thing Andromeda registered was the fact that Tonks had yet to come home.
It seemed Teddy knew it before she did. He began to cry, wail really, with despair. Then Andromeda's blood ran cold. The sound she'd secretly been dreading all night long since Dora had left rang through the house. It was a noise so cruel, so mean, that she froze before crying in tune with Teddy. The sound she'd heard was the doorbell, signaling that Nymphadora Tonks was dead. Her baby girl, only twenty-five years old, with her whole life ahead of her with Remus and Teddy. Dead. Because she'd promised to just walk in.
Numb, Andromeda carried Teddy over and answered the door. Sure enough, it was a survivor of the war who stood there, not Dora. He handed her parchment before saying, "Mrs. Andromeda Tonks, I'm so sorry," before he walked away. Mrs. Tonks winced when she heard the loud crack of magic. The same crack she heard when Remus left, followed by Dora and hour and a half later.
Andromeda put Teddy to bed, not realizing what she was doing. She crawled into her own bed, so cold from the absence of her late husband, Ted Tonks. She just sat and cried.