A/N: Wotcher! This is a sequel to my other story, Bubble-gum Pink Moon, I know I'm far from finishing it, but I have too many ideas for after the war and I needed to put them somewhere. :) Enjoy!

~Disclaimer: I owe nothing, but the plot and the OCs. All the other characters and the Harry Potter world belong to J.K. Rowling!~

VIVERE MILITARE EST

CHAPTER 1: The Real Beginning

Remus Lupin slowly felt himself being drawn back to a conscious state, everything seemed so uncertain. Was this how life after death seemed? But certainly it did not have to be so … loud. His ears started to perceive all kinds of sound, but none would come clear to him as though his brain was refusing to understand his surroundings. He was alive, but how could he be? He had seen the green light right before he felt his body go numb, unable to control any part of it and he had fell, defeated. He had heard Dolohov spoke the two words that would take his life away with a flick of a wand, right when he had distracted himself with …

'Dora.' His voice barely came out of his lips, even more hoarse than usual.

He opened his eyes, his head seemed to be spinning in all directions at the same time and he spotted nothing but a blur of colours. He tried to lift his hand with the purpose of covering a part of the light that was blinding him when he became aware of the rest of his body. Every inch of his flesh appeared to have been perforated by a sharp knife and he frowned, taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening again. One thing he knew. He was not dead.

He knew that place, he had lost count how many times he had been in this building, most of them because of … her. St. Mungo's, Hospital for Magical Maladies. He took in another breath before clenching his teeth preparing himself for the pain that he knew would strike again and it did. He sat down, sliding his legs outside the bed. He had to find her, he mentalized as a way to fight it. He would find her.

He was still wearing the same robes he was when he left for the battle, but surely they were not … like this. The buttons had not been closed as they should, causing the collar to hang in an unnatural way. The sleeves were half up his arms, the torso was ripped in a few places and those stains of blood certainly were not there before. Downwards it was in a somewhat better shape, but rips and blood were there too and … no shoes.

Right when he was trying to stand up, he felt a light pressure on his chest. His gaze fell to the small hand there and slowly followed until the woman's eyes, she was trying to say something, he realised that. Everything was starting to fell into place, but he still had to struggle with his ears to understand the few words.

'Please, sir, you need to lie down.'

He looked at her, a confused expression in his face. How could he lie down when he had no idea of where Dora was or if she was alive or … He shook his head. He could not think about that, it was too painful; she was supposed to have stayed home with … Teddy!

He got up completely ignoring the young Healer who seemed to be putting all the efforts on making him go back to bed and trying to adjust to the pain.

'My wife …' was all that he was able to say.

'Sir,' the young woman called, 'if you lie down, we can try to locate her for you. What's her name?' she asked, materializing a clipboard.

'Dora – No.' He frowned, rubbing his hand in his face. The pain was easing out, but was definitely still there. 'Try, Tonks – No! Lupin.'

He heard a sarcastic chuckle coming from the lips of the woman standing before him.

'You've just given me three names to look for, are you sure you are even married?'

Remus took in another breath, had she just insinuated that he had forgotten her? He was sure that she must have been dealing with mentally unstable spouses for a while, but she had no idea that neither he nor she were one of those. Dora was different. He placed both of his hands on the bed for support before looking straight into her eyes.

'Her name was Nymphadora Vulpecula Tonks,' he began, panting, 'though, she married me. Therefore, now she is Nymphadora Vulpecula Lupin. However, she never liked her given name so, I call her Dora, but she was known by her surname only, Tonks. She's an Auror and a Metamorphmagus and she has probably been here more times than you.' He watched as his eyes focused on her features, seeing now a short woman with black hair tied up and black framed eyeglasses upon grey eyes; he realised that he was almost proud of the slight scared expression spread across her face. He would be dead before he could forget who his wife was. 'So, you can try any combination you prefer and I'll go look for her,' He informed her, standing up again and stepping towards the door.

'Should I –' She reached out for his arm. Her tone calm and patient, clearly ashamed of her behaviour. 'Should I check the hm …' She bit her lip. 'We have a list of the deceased, sir. It's the shortest, so, if there's a chance she …'

He could see in her eyes the lack of experience, but what she was suggesting was simply impossible.

'She's not dead,' he stated, re-starting to walk to the hallway.

'It's probably the fastest way, sir.'

He closed his eyes. This was not him, cowardly running away from the problem instead of facing it … or perhaps it was. Was it courage when he ignored her feelings for him and went to live with the werewolves? Was it courage when he left after finding out she was pregnant with their child? No, definitely not. But there was something about her, something about her that made him not able to think of the slightest chance of her being hurt. And as she always made him see, it was not how he ran away that made him who he really was; it was how he always came back. Remus exhaled heavily and turned around, he could almost hear Dora telling him this was the brave thing to do.

'Give me the list,' he asked, opening his hand.

The Healer quickly put the roll of parchment in his hand, almost as if she was afraid he would change his mind.

Remus opened it, his eyes scanning the names until he found the ones that started with an L. Lemmet, Lestrange, Lestrange, Lockwood, McAddams … Wait! McAddams meant … Although, his heart wanted to pop out of his chest, he knew better than to allow happiness to take over. Countless times his wife had been admitted to that very Hospital, but the times she had worn her current surname were less than the numbers of fingers in a hand. He continued to scroll down, not even caring if he would find a friend or any other dear person, all he cared in that instant was to make sure that her old surname was not there. Tilles, Tipley, Toakley, Tonks, Turpin … And he saw it. The five letters perfectly written to make sure there was no doubt. Tonks. The name he came to love in the past three years, he was now, hating. His heart sank and everything was spinning once again. How could she? She was supposed to stay home, home with their baby. A single tear made its way to the parchment in his hand, falling right beside the word he least wanted to see, staining the name Edward. Edward. His son. Their son. The new-born with coloured hair that looked so much like her. Edward … named after … her father.

He let the roll fall on the floor as he put a hand to cover his mouth, a couple of tears coming down his cheeks. Of course they would have the names of all of them, a few of the deceased not even the Order knew about. He had half of a mind to perceive a hand on his shoulder and warm words coming from the Healer.

'She's alive,' he managed to say. 'She's alive!' He wiped the tears away and looked back at her. 'Where are the injured ones? Is she here yet? Where are the severe cases? How is the Hospital organised?' He only now realised that he was grabbing her arm and let go of it.

'I'm sorry,' she began to look into her clipboard once again, 'but we couldn't – The Hospital is not exactly organised. These past two days have been chaos in here, you were luck you had a bed –'

'Two days?' he repeated. 'I've been out for two days?'

'Well, yes, sir,' she confirmed. 'We were unable to give all needed care to everyone. I've never seen it like this, I assure you we've been doing our best, but –'

'So, she can be anywhere?'

'I'm afraid so …' she was almost apologising, 'but you can try the lower ones first. Too much work to transfer patients to the other floors, you see, so she's most likely – Sir!'

Remus left the room towards the stairs, he needed to find her.

'Sir, I should really advise you to stay put and lie down for a bit. You've just come back, I'll check you up and then I'll find your wife for you,' she promised.

But this wasn't good enough for him. How long would it take until she did everything she just said and find her? No, he could not wait.

'I need to see her.' He started to climb down the stairs, but had to stop and lean on the wall for support.

'Please, sir, just lie down and I'll search her for you right away.'

He continued to go down the stairs until he finally heard the woman exhaling heavily.

'Fine, I'll look into the records.' She conjured a few rolls of parchment. 'Lupin or Tonks, you said, right?' she asked with a smile.

Remus nodded.

'Go, just don't pass out or … die.' She smiled. 'I'll find you as soon as I know where she is.'

'Thank you.' He offered her a curt nod and a smile before continuing to climb down the stairs.

Room after room, hallway after hallway he searched for that bubble-gum pink hair, but without luck. The chaos in the lower levels was even worse than he thought it would be. Every single wizard in Great Britain seemed to be in that building. Beds and mattresses were everywhere, blood was on the walls, potions were spilled on the floor. If this was how it looked two days after the end of the battle, Remus did not want to think how the Hospital was right after it.

He left the first floor and continued his search on the second, but it was nearly as chaotic. A voice deep down him was beginning to come out and wonder if they had the list of the deceased ones constantly updated. With so many injured, he wondered how long it would take to update the list or even perceive a death on that matter. Cries, shouts, hurried voices. He would not have heard, had someone called his name. Too fast, he had finished his search on the second floor and she wasn't there either. As much as he did not want them to, his hopes were starting to leave him.

He came back to the third floor and passed through the room he had been in … If they had been able to move him to a different floor, certainly they could have moved her too. The way things were down there, they would need every inch they could use. He ran as fast as he could to the fifth floor, despite a voice telling him that the cafeteria would be the least likely place for her to be. First room, nothing. Second room, nothing. Third room, nothing. He was running through the hallway begging for her to be here, begging for her to be alive, but that stupid voice was still there, telling him that she was not there, it just would not shut up.

And he was never gladder to be wrong.

He burst through the door just to see a room like all the others, filled with a dozen of injured wizards, hoping to make through it all. But he could never have missed her, a thin, brown-haired woman with her head on the mattress, where lied a pale, pink-haired woman … his wife.

'Remus!' Andromeda lifted up her head and had thrown herself on his neck the next second. He carefully placed a hand on her back, she had never been so affectionate towards him, but with the end of the war … he knew everything would be different now.

'How is she?' he asked, letting go of her and walking to the bed. He got her hand traced her face, placing a feather kiss on her lips, but something was different, almost as if this was not the mouth he came to know, no warmth, no movement, no kissing him back, no nothing. 'She's … cold.'

His mother-in-law began to explain, how she was barely breathing, how some curse had hit both of them, leaving them nearly dead, in fact, people had put the couple of them with some other dead bodies, how she had lost a lot of blood, how they had done nearly everything they could, but she had not awaken yet, St. Mungo's was too chaotic indeed. She had put a Warm Charm on her, but it had not been enough to get her temperature to the normal level.

'And Teddy?' He asked, kissing the back of Tonks's hand.

'Still at my house, Molly's been watching out for him,' she answered, running her fingers through her daughter's hair, watching as he looked anguished at his wife. 'You should go see him, Remus, take a shower, get some rest.'

'I've slept for the past two days, Andromeda.' He let out a fake chuckle.

'You still need to eat something and relax a bit.' She placed her hand on his shoulder.

'I'll relax a bit when she's better.'

'I'll be here with her.' Her tone was calm and clearly asking for him to take care of himself for a moment. 'The Dark Lord is gone, Remus. You needn't worry.'

Remus looked up at her, the mute question in his wide eyes. Andromeda nodded as a smile tugged the corner of her lips. Voldemort was gone. It was over, it was finally over.

'Harry?' he wondered.

She nodded again, smiling wider. A relieved sigh passed through his lips, he knew if there was someone in this world that he could trust Dora's life with, was Andromeda; the amount of love she had for her was almost unbelievable. And Teddy, he needed to see that boy, hold him in his arms again, just to think about him, he wondered how he managed to not go after him until now. He bent down and kissed her forehead.

'I'll be back, I promise,' he whispered and carefully placed her hand on the bed. 'I won't take long,' he advised his mother-in-law, but she shook her head.

'Take as long as you need. Oh, and Remus?' she called. 'Since Nymphadora can't … You remember where she kept the bottles, don't you?'

'I do,' Remus confirmed. 'I'll give it to him.'

Walking out the room he felt someone collide against him and grunted in pain.

'Oh, I'm sorry, Mr Lupin,' said the young Healer, adjusting her glasses on her nose. 'I've found her, she's … Oh,' she added, seeing the room he had just left. 'You've found her too.'

'I did.' He smiled. 'I was going to visit my son and maybe take a shower, eat something …' he explained. 'Unless you rather check me up first …?'

'Oh, hm, no!' She shook her head. 'Go see your boy. It's best to put on bandages after the shower anyway …' she added, blushing slightly.

'Will do,' Remus assured her as he walked away with a hand upon one of his newest cuts.

He knew he was in absolutely no shape to Apparate so, he went through the hall, down the stairs until the first floor, where there was a couple of mantels and he Floo to their house. He stepped in the empty living-room, not a sound was heard in the house. As he got the bottle in the kitchen, he wondered if Mrs Weasley was asleep, but when he opened the door for his wife's old room a minute later, he found out she was not.

Molly was sitting on the bed, visibly thinner. She was paler and the bags under her eyes indicated that she had not slept for days. Her gaze was lost on the cot before her and she did not move a muscle when Remus came in.

'Molly?' he called, but he received no answer. 'Molly,' he called again, louder this time and she turned her head to him.

'Remus, oh, I'm sorry.' She stood up, opening her arms to him. 'How're you?'

'Fine,' he answered, hugging her.

'Good,' she choked and Remus realised she had been hugging him far stronger than she normally would. He loosened his arms, but she would not let go. 'Good,' she sobbed with her arms still tightly around him.

'Molly …' He sat them both on the bed. 'Molly, don't. I'm here. It's OK.' And he could not help but to remember the day he first had her sobbing in his arms, about three years ago after seeing what had been the scarier boggart of her life.

'No … i-it's not … F-F-Fred!' She finally let go of him and was hiding her face in her hands, but he kept his arms around her. 'H-He didn't – He-He won't …'

His browns twisted in a frown as he heard her words. Surely he hadn't … No, it was not possible. Not Fred, not the twin who had tormented his classes almost five years ago, not him, not the boy who teased him about having a cub. No … He let go of her and tried, in vain, to make her look at him.

'Molly … Molly, is he …? Did he …?' She nodded fiercely, more tears falling down her cheeks. 'Oh, Molly …' He rubbed his hands up and down on her back, trying to offer her the comfort she could never have.

Until he heard a cry. The cry. The cry he did not know he had been missing, the cry his ears got used to hearing, the cry that had awaken him at night, the cry that made his heart fill with joy, the cry that made him so happy to the point of feeling guilty because of the woman before him, who had just lost her son.

'Oh, right …' Molly tried to regain control over her breathing. 'You're here for … You should …' She wiped the tears from her face.

Remus stood up, but before he could step towards the cot, he felt a tug in his arm.

'I wasn't going to let him starve, you know …' She swallowed hard. 'I wasn't going to let him starve …' she repeated and Remus couldn't help but to be impressed at how similar the present day had become to that day at Grimmauld Place.

'I know, Molly,' he assured her. 'I know.'

Remus closed the distance that separated him from his son and before he knew, a smile had spread across his lips. It was him. Teddy, his son. Crying and struggling with the blanket. That green-haired baby was his little boy. He knew green was never the best of colours, there was always something wrong when his hair was green, he hoped food was all he wanted right now. 'Shh,' he said, taking the boy and rocking him in his arms. 'Daddy's here now, it's all right, it's all right,' he told him in a smooth voice and the boy's cries died a bit. He offered him the bottle, but the baby refused it. 'It's OK, it's Mummy's, you can take it.'

Molly got up and walked to them.

'He's been fighting the bottle,' she informed him. 'Not used to it, I reckon, but we don't really have a choice. Here.' She got the bottle from his hand and put a bit from it in her hand, letting a few drops fall on the baby's lips. For the first time, Remus saw a shadow of a smile cross her face when the boy licked it. 'You try.' She handed him the bottle and he offered it to his son, watching as he slowly started to take it. 'There you go, good boy.'

'Thank you, Molly,' he said, as she sat back on the bed, 'for everything.'

She shook her head at the small smile he offered her.

'It's nothing.' She wiped the rest of her tears as if trying to stop herself from crying more. 'You would've done the same for me.'

They stood in silence as he finished feeding his son, put a cloth over his shoulder to help him burp then back to the cot, where his hair slowly morphed to a light blue as he drifted back to sleep.

'Would you watch him?' Even though, he already knew the answer, he felt the need to ask and explain himself. 'I just need to …'

'Of course.' She nodded.

His body was in need for a long bath, but his mind was not in the same place so, he took a quick shower, poorly cleaning his wounds. He grabbed clean robes, which were still there from when he moved in with his wife, put on a pair of shoes and went to the kitchen. He prepared a quick sandwich for himself, not taking more than five minutes to eat it and to walk back into Dora's room.

Teddy had barely moved since he had put him there, he was still peacefully dreaming when he kissed his forehead.

'I love you,' he whispered before turning to Molly. 'I should get back … Will you be all right?'

'Yes, yes.' She tried to smile. 'Go see dear Tonks, let me know as soon as there are any good news.'

'Will do.'

Remus used the floo back to St. Mungo's and walked his way back to where his wife was.

'Anything?'

'No,' Andromeda sighed, getting up.

He sat on the chair she had been occupying a minute ago.

'You should go get some rest,' he advised her. 'I'll stay here with her now.'

She was just stepping out the room when the young Healer came in.

'Oh, there you are,' she said. 'I was wondering if you had come back already. Come, let's have you checked.'

Remus smiled apologetically at Andromeda, but she shook her head and took her seat back as he walked out the room with the Healer. She led him to a room that was not as chaotic as the rest of the building and conjured all sorts of bandages and pots with a fair amount of potions. He clenched his teeth as he took off his shirt. When he finally dared to open his eyes, he did not know which one of them had been blushing more. The Healer stared at his scars, blinking a couple more times than it seemed necessary before she began running her wand through all his cuts, the minor ones closing immediately, the deeper ones getting thinner. She gave him a potion to drink as she started placing a few bandages on the cuts that did not close.

'Forgive me, but I don't know your name,' he pointed out, handing the glass back to her.

'Oh, right. I'm sorry.' She cleared her throat. 'Campbell, Jessica Campbell.'

'Nice to meet you, Miss Campbell.'

'Likewise, Mr Lupin.'

He smiled as she continued to treat his wounds and half an hour later, she had finally finished with it, having instructed him how to change the bandages.

'Thank you,' he said, buttoning his shirt as she walked away.

She turned her head for him, slightly startled and smiled. 'Sure.'

Remus walked back to the room his wife was and smiled at his mother-in-law.

'You can go now,' he informed her.

Andromeda got her purse and began searching for something in it.

'Let me know if anything … if anything changes,' she asked, taking her wand out of the bag.

'I will.' He sat down and watched as Andromeda Disapparated.

Only now he realised the sun outside. Must be around noon, he thought, seeing the position of the sun. He held her hand, watching her face as the minutes passed. The minutes became hours, night had already fall when he saw Andromeda walking back into the room, he did not expect her here so soon, but she raised the bottle in her hand as if explaining.

'The one you gave him was the last one,' she related. 'Just got this one from a stock they have here. It's not the same, but … will have to do.' She bit her lip. 'How's she?'

'Same,' he said, standing and checking her temperature on her forehead. 'There really isn't something we can do?'

'I've asked them a thousand times,' she explained, shaking her head. 'They ought to be arriving with her potion soon, though. If you want, I can spend the night –'

'Andromeda,' he smiled, 'I have literally slept two days straight; don't think I'll be sleeping any time soon. I'll stay with her.' He gave her a curt nod. Not many times she had seen so much resolution in his eyes, at that moment, she knew he would do anything for her. 'How's Teddy?' he asked, almost as though he wanted to take the tension out of the room.

'Fine, he's fine.' She nodded. 'Soon, will be hungry though.' She smiled fondly.

'Yeah …' He crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring her smile in his lips. 'Come back in the morning,' he asked her, knowing how worried she was about her daughter. 'I'll stay with him tomorrow and you can … stay here.'

Andromeda nodded in response and looked anguished at her daughter before leaving.

During the night St. Mungo's became quieter, most of the patients were sleeping and most of the candles were extinguished. For hours, under the light of a single candle in the middle of the room she shared with another five wounded wizards, he watched as she slept. Hours became days with Remus and Andromeda taking shifts to take care of Teddy and Dora, being aided here and there by Molly, Harry or whoever was available and wanted to keep an eye upon the boy whose hair changed colours as he slept. It was not until the end of the second day, when Remus arrived to allow Andromeda to go home and kissed Dora's lips that she finally opened her eyes.

'Good Merlin, it's you,' Tonks's voice was not above a whisper and soon she had closed her eyes again. She meant to jump on his neck, but every single inch of her body seemed to be aching. Remus watched her open-mouthed for an instant, he did not know what he rather do, hug her, kiss her, ask her how she was, if she was in any pain. 'Thought I'd need to hex someone to oblivion – Where's my wand?'

'Nymphadora!' Andromeda returned to her senses before Remus did and hugged her. 'How are you?'

'Suffocating,' she answered, frowning slightly and her mother let her go.

Remus simply smiled at the sight of her, finally talking and refusing the mothering.

'All right?' he managed to ask her, holding her hand.

She reached out for his face, tracing his cheek with her thumb, almost as though she was checking to see if he was indeed real.

'All right,' she answered.

Dora sat down and hugged his neck, crying silently as her hair quickly morphed to green.

'I thought –' she choked. 'I saw you … I didn't know if-if it was …'

He tightly wrapped his arms around her.

'I'm here,' he assured her. 'We're both here. We'll be OK.' He let go off her and wiped her tears. 'You shouldn't have gone, though.'

'I couldn't stand …' she swallowed hard, 'not knowing if you would come back or not … Not knowing what was happening … And I knew I could help.' She bit her lip, her gaze lost on the wall across the room. 'I saw you and I saw him – Dolohov, and you were looking at me and he was going to kill you and it was all my fault.' She closed her eyes, a couple more tears falling down her cheeks.

She could still see everything happening, she could see Remus's eyes upon her, Dolohov preparing the curse as she shouted her only hope. She could still hear him yelling the two words that would take her husband's life, she could still see him falling, not knowing which curse had hit him. She could still hear her aunt's laugh when she saw at what she had been looking. She could still remember how it was to explode the wall behind Bellatrix and see the look in her face as she prepared the curse. She could still hear those two words coming from the Death Eater's lips.

'So, I knocked you out,' she admitted, her fingers on her own bottom lip. 'I exploded the wall behind Bellatrix, trying to distract her, but suddenly she was behind me and she was going to kill me and-and-and I don't know, we dueled for a while and she was beating me … One. More. Bloody. Time. And then … everything went dark … Some of the scrubble must've knocked me out too … I'm sorry.' She buried her face on his chest. 'I was a coward, I got you out of the fight, but I couldn't bear to see you die, I swear, I-I – Oh, what Mad-Eye would say?'

'Dora, don't –' He wiped her tears away. 'Dora, listen to me. You saved my life! He was beginning to beat me too, it was only a matter of time,' he explained. 'You didn't get yourself killed and if I know you well enough the way I think I do, more people own you with their lives.' He awaited a second until she nodded, hiding her eyes with her fists. 'Merlin, Dora, if he wasn't happy with you saving so many lives then he can go to Hell because … because of you our son will be raised by his parents and –' He hugged her again, unsure if she was happy or sad with him telling Mad-Eye to go to Hell. 'I still think you shouldn't have gone though … but I'm glad you did.' He smiled, kissing her forehead, causing her to chuckle.

'How is he?' she asked, tugging his shirt.

'Missing you,' he answered, placing a lock of her hair behind her ear as she smiled.

'Not even sure if he knows who I am.' She wiped her tears.

'I think nine months and fifteen days are enough for him to know who you are.'

'… Fifteen?'

'Well,' He cleared his throat, inhaling. Here it comes. 'You've been out for four days.'

'Four days!' she shouted with wide eyes. 'Oh my! Who's taking care of him?'

Remus cocked an eyebrow at her.

'I am glad to inform you that you are not a single mum, ma'am,' he joked. 'I am! Your mother, Harry, Molly … We had a good amount of people to help us.'

'What's he eating? Merlin, I need to see him!'

'Dora, calm down, you will see him,' he told her. 'St. Mungo's has a stock of milk for occasions lik―'

He was cut off by Andromeda coming in with a Healer and they both frowned. When did she leave?

'There she is!' she exclaimed. 'She's all yours!'

'No!' She shook her head. 'No, no, no. I'm going to see my son now.' She stood up.

'Dora, you are no help for him if you're like this.' He got a firm grip on her wrist.

'Remus, I'm fine!' She yelled at him, but his eyes found hers and it was obvious to both of them that she was not in her best shape. She had no choice but to lower her voice as she spoke, 'I just wanna see him, just hold him for a minute – I'll come back, I'll come back later and you can have me.' She turned to the Healer. 'I'll even leave my wand here if you want some sort of guarantee.' For a split second she wondered where her wand was for a second time, but it was quickly vanished from her mind. 'But lemme see him … Please.'

Andromeda watched as her daughter pleaded with her gazing falling upon her husband and she stepped forwards.

'I'll go get him,' she announced. 'You stay here and I'll go get him. It will only take a few minutes and we can get both things done.'

Tonks looked from her husband to her mother, she still wanted to leave the building and go get her baby for herself, but she knew how much them all wanted to make sure she was OK. She clenched her teeth before exhaling heavily.

'Fine …' She jumped on the bed, pouting. 'Go!' She gestured for her mother to hurry up and bring her son to her. Dora could see the reprehension in her mother's gaze for treating her like that, but she chose to ignore it.

She allowed her husband to take off her upper robe and leant on the wall as Jessica began to work on her. Remus kissed her forehead and excused himself, promising to be back in a minute. Spells, bandages, potions, pomades, they all seemed to be thrown upon her at once. Her husband was back just in time to hear the Healer explaining to her how to take care of everything, just like she had done with Remus. Tonks was about to put her robe back on when her mother came in.

At the mere sight of that bunch of cloths, her heart sped off. The need to see him was so intense that it scared her. The next instant, her mother was carefully putting him in her arms. Tears came pouring when Remus leant his forehead on hers and they watched those beautiful blue eyes becoming the exact same shade of brown of hers and the light green of the few hairs she was able to see, shift into bright pink. This was her little baby. The little boy she loved more than anything in the whole world, the little boy she had just risked her life so he could live in a happier and safer world. The tears that were threatening to fall finally came down her cheek as her concerns about him vanished.

'Then you say he doesn't know you,' Remus chuckled.

A single tear fell from her face to the baby's cheek and she wiped it away, until she could not see the smallest sign of it, almost as though she was trying to take all her concerns away from him and keep him in the bubble of innocence forever.

'He loves you, Dora,' Remus said as she held him even closer to her. 'He can't live without you.'

'I love you, Teddy.' She kissed his forehead. 'I love you, I'm sorry, I didn't –' Tonks closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, looking up as she tried to calm down.

Remus wiped away the tears and kissed her cheek. He could almost see everything that was going through her mind at that moment. The extra load of hormones from the pregnancy, guilty from leaving their son when she was supposed to have stayed home, happiness from surviving the battle, cowardice from doing what she had to do to save their lives.

'It's all right,' he murmured in her ear. 'We're all right.'

'I know.' She wiped the rest of her tears as her husband fondly smiled at her, she still surprised him, she was so much stronger than she looked. 'I know.'

'Bet there's someone who's hungry,' he chuckled before kissing her forehead as the boy rubbed his cheek against his mother.

'Yeah,' she sniffed, unclasping her maternity bra and offering her breast for her son to take.

Dora had missed this. The feeling of feeding her son; being his source of, not only food, but also life. The feeling of his little palm on her skin, as though there was nothing in the world but the two of them. She caressed the back of his hand and he grabbed her finger. No amount of will could have stopped the smile from coming to her lips.

'So, it's true what I heard about the Lupins being finally reunited.'

Tonks was already grinning when her eyes confirmed what her ears already knew, her best friend, Olivia Kingdom, had entered that room.

'Sweet good Merlin!' Her eyes widened. 'I can't believe this! Don't just stand there, come here!' She opened her arm that was not holding her son.

The young woman had her light hair loosened and falling on her shoulders; a new and deep scar near her chin was highlighted by her pale skin. Olivia walked over and squeezed her as tight as it was possible without hurting the new-born.

'Gosh, I missed you!'

'I missed you too.' She let go of her. 'So, this is little Teddy.' She smiled as the baby watched her curiously.

'Yes, he is.' Dora smiled proudly.

'Hi, kidder,' she said in a smooth voice. 'Your mummy is crazy –'

'Hey!'

'―but you know what they say, the crazy ones are the best.' She winked before kissing her friend's cheek. 'He's gorgeous, Dora. Congratulations,' she added with a smile, looking also at Remus.

'Thanks.' She blinked, tenderly.

'You remember Alex.' Olivia held her hand for the man still standing by the door. He was about six feet tall, flat brown hair which fell upon his strong features; he was wearing beige robes.

'Wotcher, Alex!' She smiled as Alex walked over and held his wife's hand.

'Hello,' he greeted with a nod, going to stay behind his wife.

'There's mum.' Tonks gestured for her mother.

'Hi, Mrs Tonks,' Olivia waved and Andromeda nodded, smiling.

'And Remus,' she grinned, tilting her head to her husband.

'Hey, Remus,' Olivia offered her hand to shake. 'Thanks for the heads up,' she added when he shook it.

Dora did not know if she got happy for her husband contacting her friend or angry with the fact that he did not let her know of it, so she just stared open-mouthed in a sort of half-way between the two.

'Knew you'd love the surprise.' He kissed the top of her head, grinning.

She rolled her eyes before looking away from him.

'What? Somebody needed to send word that you were all right,' he explained.

Tonks ignored him for Teddy coughed, letting go of her breast and Remus stepped forwards to get the baby and take the job of burping him.

'So, where you guys staying?' Dora asked as she clasped her bra and put on her robes.

'The Leaky.'

'Are you serious?' Tonks asked with a frown.

'Well, yeah. We didn't wan―'

'Go get your things,' She commanded. 'You're staying with us.'

'No, Dora, it's just a few more nights,' Olivia argued.

'All the more reason,' Tonks grinned, jumping out of the bed and whimpering at the sudden weight of her body on her legs, apparently, some of her body parts were still aching. 'It's just a few more nights,' she added, ignoring the steps they gave forwards to help her.

'Come on, we need to check out of here,' she addressed to her husband.

'I don't want to give you any trouble,' alleged Olivia.

'If anything, you're going to give Remus some trouble and well,' Tonks shrugged, 'since you're best mates now, it won't be a problem.'

Now, it was his turn to roll his eyes at her grin.

'What about Charlie?' She kneeled, to get her cloak under the bed. 'Did he come with you guys?'

'Course, he wasn't going to let you have all the fun, was he?' Olivia chuckled.

'Oh, so the git's just too busy eating his mother's food that can't come visit a friend at the Hospital, right?' Tonks asked, standing up.

'No … Actually, he's …' Olivia looked at Remus for support and Tonks straightened her eyes.

'What?' She wanted to know. Her husband used his free hand to pat the bed, indicating for her to sit on it, but she did not move. What could have been so bad that Remus didn't want her standing? Was he …? No, Charlie couldn't have been … No, not Charlie … 'What?' she repeated, more urgently.

'Dora,' Remus began, looking into her eyes. 'It's …' He cupped her cheek in his hand, wishing that he could do anything to protect her, but sadly, there was no easy way to say it. 'It's Fred, he didn't … He didn't make it.'

'He's d-de-dead?' she asked, shaking her head slightly and barely seeing her husband nodding. It felt just as painful as though she had lost Charlie. But Fred … Always joking around and teasing everybody, how could he be dead? Always cracking a joke to enlighten the room and their shop was going so well … how could he be dead? They had lost so many by now and yet, it would never be easy to deal. And poor Molly … Tonks could only imagine how it felt to lose a child, surely she would be lost without Teddy, she could barely think about it. She knew what Mad-Eye would say, that there was nothing we could do for him now so, it was best to move on, but how many more had they lose? How many more had lost their lives for this cause? Was it even worth it? Everything they've been through? 'Who else?'

'I'm not sure …' Remus turned back to Olivia. 'I've been here and at home most of the time …'

'Well, a fair amount of students from what I know, the list is actually a bit long –' She explained. 'There are still people dying from complications,' She looked around. 'But from the Order, right now, from the top of my head, I can only remember Dedalus and Hestia.'

Tonks bit her lip, anguished.

'And what about Patrick?' she asked, remembering the couple's son, six-months-old and had already lost both his parents. Was it worth it? Surely he was not the only orphan, more children would live without their parents … Was it worth it? Dora shook her head. There was nothing she could do to try to fix it and Teddy would live in a happy, safe world, she would give her own life for him to have that chance.

'Her mother, Elisa Jones, from what I've heard, is still alive and will take care of him,' Olivia sighed. 'Reckon he's everything she's got left.'

'Don't forget the most important!' Alex spoke, waiting a moment until all the frowns stared at him and grinned. 'Voldemort.'

A smile appeared in all the faces, Dora's eyes widened and a small laugh scaped her lips.

'He's … gone …' Her hair colour rapidly changing to her favourite shade of pink.

'Gone for good,' whispered Remus in her ear as they wrapped their arms around each other. 'Harry ended him.'

As their smiles faded, they stood there, in complete silence, in an unspoken agreement to honour the deaths until Teddy began to cry. Tonks got him in her arms, trying to stop his cries.

'We should go,' she announced. 'And I'm serious. You two are staying with us,' she reminded them.

Olivia exhaled heavily, looking at Alex with a half-smile.

'We'll go get our things then,' she said, defeated.

'You better,' Dora chuckled, following her husband out the room.

The Kingdoms left St. Mungo's to get their belongings at the Leaky Cauldron, Andromeda Disapparated shortly after them, but not without insisting for them to let her know if they needed anything at all and giving Tonks's wand back to her.

Remus and Dora paid for the care they received at the Hospital, received more instructions on how to treat the wounds and when they should head back for another round of potions for the pain. A couple of minutes later, they were already leaving the fireplace of their house. They were tired, wounded, aching and still needing to organise a few things before they could go to bed, but the sight of their own home had a wonderful soothing effect upon them. They took a minute to contemplate the view of it. Days had passed since someone had been there, but it would never lose the feeling of home for them.

'Rem?' Dora called, turning her face to him, her voice low and needy.

Remus turned his face to her, bending down slightly as he looked at her.

'Yes?' he whispered in response, their gazes slowly falling from eyes to lips.

'… Never mind.'

She closed the distance between their lips and it was as though her whole body exploded with the touch. Too long had passed since they had really shared their last kiss, in that very room, before Remus went for the Battle, leaving his wife and son behind. His tongue playing with her lips was almost begging to be allowed in and she did absolutely nothing to stop it. He deepened the kiss and he nearly shivered at the new sensation. With his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth, she could not help but to let out a moan, the kind of moan from deep down her throat, the kind of moan he loved to hear and he knew he could make her let out so many others – He broke apart and licked his lips as he watched her bite her bottom lip.

'We should …'

'Yeah …' She sighed before shaking her head to focus on what they needed to do.

They climbed the stairs and Remus opened their room's door so his wife could put their son in his cot and take care of everything for him to sleep.

He left and walked in the guest's room, organising everything for the couple who would spend a few nights with them. Pillows, bed linen, towels. He had just fetched a blanket when he heard the knock on their door, followed by the hurried steps of his wife and the usual curse right before the sound of glass hitting the ground. He smiled fondly as he left the room into the corridor, some things would never change.

Remus watched as she greeted and led them to the room he had just left.

'Everything you need there,' he said. 'However, had I forgotten something, please, let me know and I get it right away,' He finished with a curt nod.

'Oh, thanks,' Olivia smiled. 'It's very sweet of you, to have us here … Especially right after you're back from the Hospital –'

'Nah, don't worry about it!' Tonks shook her head. 'Just have a good night of sleep.'

'We will,' Alex assured her, opening their trunk.

'Good night,' Remus wished as they stepped out of the room and into theirs.

Back in their room, he took off his pyjamas from the drawer, throwing them on the bed before he started to take his clothes off. She got the pyjamas shirt and put it on, buttoning three of them before entering under the covers to watch her husband undress and put on the trousers she had left on the bed. Dora crawled onto him as soon as he was on the bed and he put his arms around her.

'You're still a bit cold,' he noticed.

'Then keep me warm,' she asked kissing just beside his lips and he wrapped his arms tiguthly around her, pulling his wife closer. 'I've missed you,' she said, only now realising that she was meaning nothing but simply having him by her side.

'I missed you too.' He kissed her forehead at the same time her stomach growled.

'I'm hungry,' she announced, causing both of them to chuckle. How long had passed since she had waked up? It felt like … too long. And she had not eaten anything but the sips of potions the Healer gave her.

Across the room, Teddy began to cry.

'You're not the only one.' Remus kissed her again and let go of her.

'But I just fed him!' Tonks puffed.

'Briefly,' he added. 'Maybe he didn't like St. Mungo's, he didn't seem very comfortable there or maybe he's just missing you.' He offered her the crooked smile she loved. 'Anyway, meet you in the kitchen,' he instructed. 'I'll make you a sandwich.' He was sliding his legs out the bed when he felt her cold hand on his wrist, he slowly turned his head to hers.

'I love you, Remus,' she said when their gazes met.

'I love you too, Dora.' And he bent over to kiss her, tenderly, on the lips.

If cuddling, late night nursing and making sandwiches on pyjamas were what life after the War was like, they wished it never ended.

A/N: So yeah, if J.K. Rowling wanted an orphan, she can have Patrick Diggle, I killed Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle and made them have a baby, that's your AU. Teddy Lupin is growing up with his parents because Remus and Dora didn't die, I don't know what you're talking about. Thank you very much for reading this far and I would love you forever if you left your thoughts on the box bellow, takes a minute and means a lot, all right?