Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be-it's a sad world.

Authur's Note:Yes, it has been posted before on my other account but it has now been beta'd so hopefully it's great...if notit's just tough cookies.

The Nymph and her Wolf

Chapter 1

"Harry-NO!" Lupin yelled after the fleeting figure.

"Leave him!" bellowed Dumbledore scanning the room. "I will take care of Harry, Remus, you help the others."

With that the silver bearded man swept past where Lupin and Neville were standing and through the door Harry had made his exit following Bellatrix Lestrange. Lupin focused his attention back to the task at hand, moving quickly he made his way to where Tonks lay, Neville hot on his heels.

"Is she…is she dead?" Neville asked Moody, peering past Lupin.

"Not anymore she's not," he grunted and put his glass eye back into its socket. "Don't know what hit her but I'm sure she'll be fine."

Mad Eye stood up straight and placed his hand on Neville's shoulder. "Come and help me with the others Longbottom. Remus, you take care of her, I've done most of it, and you just need to keep her stable till the healers get here."

"Sure," the werewolf said not really paying the older man any attention.

"We'll come back for them," Moody pointed towards where Dumbledore had left the remaining Death Eaters in the centre of the room. He noticed that Lupin wasn't taking any of this in, whether it was because his best friend had just died or the fact that another close friend was lying on the floor close to deaths door he didn't know.

Moody pushed Neville forward and followed the young boy up the stairs to find his school friends beckoning Kingsley Shacklebolt to follow.

Remus held his wand over Tonks' still form and muttered a healing incantation under his breath, focusing all his anger and anxiety into the spell. A pink light shot out of the end of his wand and into her chest, spreading out over her body until it died out.

"Don't die on me Nymph," he begged, taking her still hand and stroking it.

He studied her true form closely. He, like Harry had seen her fall down from the blast by Bellatrix, he had seen the fiery short red hair grow longer and turn into the mousy brown it was now; her natural colour. That was never a good sign for a metamorphmagus; turning back to their regular form was a sure sign of weakness and impending death. Lupin closed his eyes to shut out those thoughts, it wasn't always the case, some survived.

Lupin smiled, he could just picture her face when she realises that she isn't allowed to change for a while after she is healed properly. He knew she didn't like her regular, boring hair, but he did. He liked everything about her, not that he'd ever told anyone least of all Sirius; after all she was his niece, sort of.

He didn't know how long he had sat on the cold stone floor stroking Tonks' hand, willing her to wake up. His musings were interrupted by ministry officials-mainly Aurors-bursting into the room, they set about reciting the Death Eaters their rights and putting enough charms on them that they wouldn't be able to move of their own accord for weeks.

One of the Aurors walked over to where Remus was sitting, his body hiding Tonks.

"Sir," the man said cautiously, stepping closer "we have arrested the Death Eaters and the children have been sort…Tonks!" he cried as he recognised the girl lying on the floor.

The young man turned to one of the others. "Get a healer down here pronto!" he ordered. A woman rushed off to return minutes later with an older man in green robes, obviously they had gotten the call that there were casualties while they were on duty at St Mungo's and had apparated to the Ministry. Remus stood back to give the healer room to work.

"We need your name and a statement," the young Auror was talking to him again.

"Remus Lupin," he said snapping out of the trance he was in. "He-who-must-not-be-named…what happened to Harry and Professor Dumbledore?"

The young man shifted his weight to his other foot.

"Well, uh, You-know-who was here, in the Ministry," the boy said disbelievingly. "I saw him disappear, then Dumbledore sent Potter back to Hogwarts and gave his statement to Mr Fudge before sending us down here to look for you and the others."

The healer looked up to Remus. "Do you know what hit her?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange, I don't know what with," Lupin recalled.

"Well, what ever it was, it was bloody powerful," he said almost in awe. "We have to take her to St Mungo's for further treatment but she should make a full recovery. Does she have any family we can contact?"

"No," he replied remorsefully, "her parents are out of the country, I'll come with her."

"Good, while you're at it we can sort that out," he said pointing to the blood on Lupin's robe.

"That's not my blood," he said quietly.

"Oh, well that doesn't matter. Come on," he said pointing his wand at Tonks and producing the levitation spell.

"How are the children?" Lupin asked walking along side the healer.

"They will be fine. The Weasley girl has broken her ankle, her brother is now free of the brain and has been sedated until the laughing stops, the Longbottom boy has a broken nose, the weird young girl is bruised a little and the other girl, Miss Granger is still unconscious. It's nothing Madame Pomfrey can't handle."

Remus nodded and followed them out into the Atrium, which looked like a bomb had hit it. He spotted the now reinstated Headmaster of Hogwarts talking hastily to Cornelius Fudge who looked very embarrassed and scared. Dumbledore noticed the procession of Aurors, Death Eaters and the casualties, and made his way over to them.

"It seems that Voldemort has no helpful followers anymore, dear me he will be disappointed," he said looking tired, before turning to the healer and Tonks. "The children have all been transferred to Hogwarts infirmary, Poppy would like you to pop in and see them in a few days."

"Certainly Albus," the small healer smiled.

"How is young Nymphadora?" Dumbledore asked while scanning Lupin's anxious face.

"She is strong Albus, nothing she can't handle," the healer said hopefully. "I think we better get her off to St Mungo's though, Remus has offered to go with her."

"Very well Garron, I must get back to my school. She will make it Remus, Nymphadora won't go without a fight," he said placing a reassuring hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Travel well my old friend," said Garron before pushing the floating form of Tonks to go on.

After two days of watching healers come and go attending to Tonks as she lay peacefully on the hospital bed, Lupin had gone back to the Order's HQ for a well earned rest. The healer on duty had told him that there would be no visible signs of improvement for another day or so and that he should go home and get some rest, only after Mr Weasley had offered to stay had he complied.

He stood now looking into the bathroom mirror, his eyes red and puffy from the hour he had just spent crying, his slightly grey hair a mess from rubbing his hands through it because of the frustration that he couldn't do anything to help anyone at the moment. He couldn't readily console Mrs Weasley who was sitting in the kitchen, because he needed time to process the events from Friday nights show down in his own mind, Sirius' death and Tonks' almost fatal injuries. He used his time in the bathroom to mourn for the first time the loss of his friend more than anything, he had to be strong for when Tonks wakes up and has to be told of the death. He had to be strong for her.

A knock on the door told him he had spent enough time alone with his thoughts and that Mrs Weasley had made some lunch.

An hour later the healer on duty was welcoming him back.

"Don't stay away for long do you Mr Lupin?" the young man smiled. "Not that I blame you, she is a very attractive girl."

Lupin ignored his comments and opened the door to the ward to greet Arthur Weasley. Before he had even taken two steps forward Arthur bounded over to him.

"She moved!" he exclaimed excitedly. "She moved her head!"

"But the healers said…"

"Who cares what they said? She moved; she's getting better," Arthur cut in practically dragging the startled man over to Tonks' bed and pushing him into the chair.

"Hey Tonks, I'm back," he whispered to her then turned to face Arthur. "Molly says to get home soon or your soup will have gone cold. We also had an owl from Ron and the twins; Ron says that Ginny sent the owl because he is confined to the infirmary at the moment but will be out soon because he feels much better, and the twins say they want to join us at the station to pick the kids up."

"Good, good. I better get home then," he grabbed his muggle jacket and hurried out of the room. "I can't wait to tell everyone the news!"

Lupin shook his head and turned back to the bed. He smiled to himself when he noticed that Tonks was now facing him, instead of away. He took her hand and sank back into his chair to find a comfy spot.

The healers changed shifts, Remus was glad that little prick of a healer was gone, replaced by the friendly, if a bit nosy, woman that he had gotten to know over the last two days. She walked into the room with her tubby legs and smiled around the room, her gaze stopping on Remus.

"Now dear, have you been home at all? Got any sleep? Had anything to eat?" she asked bustling over.

"Yes, no and yes," he replied, "in that order."

"Couldn't sleep huh?" she asked, not waiting for his reply. "Well, I'm not surprised after what happened, it was all over the Prophet this morning. I saw your name dear," she paused for breath letting Remus cut in.

"When do you think she'll wake up?"

"Well, she has improved much faster than we had expected but we didn't know what hit her, it shouldn't be long now," she smiled. "Don't worry so much dear, she is out of the woods at last."

"Sure?"

"Absolutely, the colour is coming back into her cheeks and she has shown signs of brain activity," she paused and sat on the end of the bed. "She will be back to her usual perky self in no time. Believe you me, Nymphadora Tonks has been in here enough times for me to tell you that!"

Remus smiled at this information, it would explain why so many healers had come in and shaken their heads muttering things like 'What have you done now Nymphadora?' or 'Dear me, you should really not go looking for trouble, you attract enough as it is.'

"I don't advise you tell her of Mr Blacks death for a while though," the hefty woman recommended. "Might shake her up a bit more than usual at the moment."

"She has a right to know."

"You do what you feel is best, but be ready for the emotional roller coaster that goes along with stuff like this," she warned before totting off to do her rounds.

"I will be," he whispered running his fingers over the back of Tonks' hand, he'd be there for her throughout.

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