A/N: For Hecate's Rath, Suzanne & Katy--Rita
Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling
The Photograph
Charlie was going through a box of old stuff, deciding what to keep or throw away when he came across an old photograph taken at Hogwarts. He couldn't have been more than 13 and he'd just been selected for the Gryffindor house Quidditch team. He was smiling his goofy grin, holding the broomstick in his already cocky manner, and next to him, hanging on to his arm, smiling just as goofy was his best friend, Nymphadora Tonks.
She was crossing her eyes and sticking out her tongue, and then she looked at him with the greatest sense of pride, as if to say, "Look at my friend! The Quidditch player!"
The day was all about him, but she looked like it was the happiest day of her life as well.
Charlie sat down on his bed and stared at the picture. Tonks was always there for him. Always. When Priscilla Goodpasture broke his heart during fourth year, Tonks put a hex on her, giving her an itchy rash that lasted over a month. And the time Charlie watched the sick unicorn he was caring for die, it was Tonks who stayed up all night with him while he cried in her arms.
He smiled remembering his first kiss. Tonks helped him practice for his first official kiss with the girl, whose name he didn't ever remember. They practiced for hours until he got it right. "Gah, Charlie," she said. "No girl wants you the stick your tongue down her throat." And she was right.
She cried on his shoulder when Remus rejected her. "It'll be all right, Tonks, I'll always be there for you," he promised her.
She was always there for him, and when she needed him the most, he was too late. She died as the warrior she was, but he was too late to save her.
He touched her smiling face and put the photograph away.