Author's Note: A short vignette, pairing Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, with the prompt: Return.

These characters and their world belong to the unsurpassable J.K. Rowling.

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Her face turned white the moment she saw him behind the open door.

"Is it you, Remus?" she asked, her voice shaking, but wand pointing steadily at his chest.

"It is I, Remus John Lupin, registered werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks on July 10th. Your engagement ring was in a chocolate cupcake."

"Nymphadora Tonks, metamorphmagus, auror, trained under Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Your deepest scar runs below your left shoulder."

She spoke hurriedly before pulling him across the threshold, grabbing both his hands in hers. "What's happened? Are they all right? How's Harry, did he -?"

She stopped short as Lupin's face twisted with emotion. He reached forward and pulled her close to him, his face buried in her hair, and whispered, "I've been a fool."

Two tears slid down his face onto the top of her head. "It was Harry," he continued, "Harry wanted me to come back to you. He didn't want you to be alone. You and the - the child." His voice cracked.

"But what about him? What about what Dumbledore left him to do?"

Lupin took a deep shuddering breath, "I trust Harry as much as I trust Dumbledore. When he says the task is meant for him alone, I believe him. And when he was talking with me, when he refused my help, it was like Albus was speaking himself. I've been a fool, Dora, I've worried that the child would be ashamed of me because of what I am. But I realise now, if I left you - if I was a coward and ran away - the child would be ashamed of me because of what I've done. There's a difference. And that's why -"

He moved away and looked down into her heart-shaped face, "That's why I've returned. "

Tonks' hair seemed to turn a shade brighter as a sad smile creased the corners of her mouth. "Remus Lupin," she said, "You are not a fool, just a man trying to do the right thing. Don't ever feel ashamed of that."

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