Tonks and her mother, Andromeda stood beside the window, watching the snow fall peacefully to the ground. Tonks gently rubbed her pregnant belly, but she just felt glum. Her father was now on the run, heaven alone knew where, all because he was Muggle-born. Her mother hadn't even bothered to put up Christmas decorations with everything that was going on. Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door. Andromeda rushed over to find out who was there.
"It's me, Remus John Lupin, the Secret Keeper for this house. You are my mother-in-law, Andromeda and my wife and your daughter Nymphadora Tonks is in there with you," Lupin's voice answered. Andromeda quickly opened the door to let Lupin in, Tonks rushed as quickly as she could in her present state over to see her husband. But when she got to the door, there was something she didn't expect.
Standing right next to Lupin was a very old man wearing a dark green trench coat, and leaning on a blackthorn cane. His beard was growing somewhere between grey and white, and he was clearly losing some hair. His glasses made his eyes seem smaller than they probably were. He accepted Andromeda's request to take his coat, and Tonks could see another, his clothes were not as shabby as Lupin's, but it was evident that he had them for a while.
"Tonks, Andromeda, I would like you to meet my dad, Lyall Lupin," Remus said with a smile.
"Christmas is a time for family, and I just feel that those of us who can be together should be," he continued. The women lead the men into the family room and they all had a seat except for Tonks who approached Lyall.
"Lyall, I'm sorry you couldn't be at your son's wedding, it was a rather rushed affair, and with everything that's going on, and Remus's condition, invitations weren't exactly the best idea," she said sadly.
"Tonks, it's alright, I'm just glad that I finally get to meet you. I'm sorry about your father, let's just say a Christmas prayer that he'll be alright. As well as Harry Potter, wherever he might be," Lyall answered, his eyes sparkling behind his glasses. Tonks' lips quivered for a moment but then she gently took one of John's liver-spotted hands and placed it on her stomach. She was grateful that the baby inside gave a gentle push in that moment.
"That's your little grandchild in there," she said. Lyall smiled but then started to cry.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Lupin asked getting up to see that his father was okay.
"It's nothing, I just wish your mother was still alive, she would have been happy to know that you found someone who loved you unconditionally as we did, and that you two were now starting a family," Lyall replied trying to stifle back some tears. Lupin gently patted his father on the shoulder. Tonks gently released her grip on Lyall's hand and hugged him. Once he had a little room to move around, Lyall pointed over to his jacket.
"Could someone please hand me my coat?" he asked. Tonks did a little flick of her wand and the trench coat came right to her. She handed it over to her father-in-law, he reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a loosely wrapped package with white paper.
"Tonks, I don't know if we were doing gift exchanges, with the war going on and so many people dead or missing, it might not be the most appropriate thing to do right now but I have something for the baby," he said handing her the small gift. Tonks carefully tore open the package and found inside was a little plush frog wearing a red robe. Tears of joy escaped her eyes as she once again hugged Lyall.
"Thank you, I'm sure the baby will love it, especially because it's from its granddad," she exclaimed. Andromeda announced that her turkey soup was ready, and the small family had their simple Christmas meal, watching the snow fall. Knowing that somewhere out there, Harry and his friends were on a mission to finally defeat Voldemort, and so many other wizards and witches were fighting the good fight to bring peace to the wizarding and Muggle worlds.