The room was tense and quiet. The Daily Prophet lay forgotten to the side, full of lies and false security. The wireless in the center of the table, on which everyone in the room had been fixed a moment ago, turned itself off with a click as the program ended.
There was silence for a few minutes, nothing heard other than the steady sound of breathing. Andromeda kept throwing worried glances towards the front door, as though someone might barge in at any second. They all held the same fear – that the stories in the news, of brutal murders and torturing, would become a reality for them. The threat wasn't as high for Andromeda and Nymphadora, their blood statuses were acceptable within the Wizarding community at the present time. Remus, being a werewolf, was at higher risk not only by the Death Eaters and Ministry, but by himself. Tonks, however, wasn't going to let him leave any time soon.
There were slight movements from the others gathered around the room, beginning to resume their business, but Ted remained still and quiet. They all knew it was people like him that were being hunted down.
"Dora, can I have a word with you?" he said softly, breaking his own silence. She met his eyes before pulling herself up from her seat and following him into her bedroom. The room was small, just off the main hallway. It had been hers since she was a child, and many things remained from then. Her robes were still folded and kept in the same chest of drawers that once held her baby clothes. The walls were a violently bright shade of blue, a favourite colour of hers as a child. Since then, her liking for the colour had diminished, but the walls were as vibrant as they had been all those years ago.
She remembered a time when the war wasn't wreaking havoc, when her father would be as safe in their house as he'd be anywhere else, when he wouldn't have to leave them to ensure that they weren't hurt because of who he was. A time where fathers would look after their daughters, rather than the other way around.
x
The afternoon was bitterly cold. The snow, full of small footprints and snowpeople, glistening in the late winter sun. She hadn't been outside long before her nose and ears had gone red and numb. Ted called her inside, telling her she'd get catch a cold if she stayed out much longer. Reluctantly, she complied.
Tonks made her way to her room, sitting down on her bed before taking off her cloak and winter boots.
She took a quick look around her room. The walls were an old, dull yellow colour from when her parents moved into the house. Nymphadora had been in this bedroom all her life, and not once in those five years had they changed the colour, though it wasn't for her lack of trying. For a couple months the previous year, every time she entered her room, she would complain loudly about the boring colour and ask if she could please change it, just for something different. Her parents always told her that they might change it some other day.
Today, Tonks decided, was as good a day as any. And if her parents didn't want to help her, they didn't have to. She made her way into the garage where her father kept all his Muggle tools and, fortunately for her, gallons of paint. She chose the can with the name Very Berry Blue printed on the label in a colour not unlike her current hair colour.
She toted the can behind her, going the long way through the house so her parents wouldn't see what she'd taken from the garage.
Nearly an hour had gone by. Tonks had managed to open the paint can, and seeing as she didn't have a brush, settled on dipping her hands in the cool paint then onto the yellow walls.
Her father came in to let her know it was time for dinner, but seeing the blue paint covering a portion of the wall (and the majority of his daughter), he stopped mid-sentence. Nymphadora was floating to reach the higher part of the wall, handprints of blue scarcely covering the yellow.
"What are you doing up there?" he asked, concerned and slightly amused.
"Painting," she muttered, looking down at his words as though she only just realized she was floating when he mentioned it.
"Uh-huh. How about you get down here first, it's not safe up there. Now let's get you cleaned up, we'll eat, and then the two of us will paint the walls with a paintbrush, how's that sound?" Ted had made his way to Dora's side, holding her blue hand as she returned to the ground.
x
"Are you alright?" she asked her father as the two of them sank down onto her bed. He had been a bit off lately, and rightly so, but it worried her.
He nodded. "How are you feeling?"
Nymphadora, who was three months pregnant, shrugged and said, "I'm fine. What's going on?" she added, more seriously.
"I've decided," he sighed, looking his daughter straight in the eyes. "I need to go, get out of the house. Just for a bit, until this all settles down. The Ministry'll come knocking any day, and if they find me… You, Remus, your mother, you're all in danger as long as I'm here."
"And what are you going to do if you leave? Where are you going to go? At least here we can protect you. You really think it's safer out there on your own?" she asked, her voice rising.
"It'll be safer for you. I'm not going to be the one to put you in danger. Not your child, not your mother, not Remus. Don't worry about me."
Tonks shook her head slowly and ran a hand through her hair. "You're going to get yourself killed. Don't go through all that, not for me. You know I'd never be able to forgive myself if—" She swallowed hard. "I'm an Auror, in case you've forgotten. I can easily protect us if I need to. And it's not like any of the rest of us are bad at magic."
Ted took a deep breath, enunciating each word. "I am not putting any of you in danger. Not if I can help it, and I can. If I go, they'll leave you alone. You've got enough to worry about already, with your mother, husband, and the baby. I can keep myself safe, I just need for the rest of you to keep each other out of harm's way."
Tonks closed her eyes briefly. "I'm not going to be able to convince you to stay, am I?"
He shook his head with a murmured, "I'm sorry, Dora. You all stay safe, do you hear me?"
"You keep yourself safe."
"Promise."
x
Nymphadora was…eager, there was no other word for it. Even though she knew she had hours before she needed to, she had pulled on her brand new Hogwarts robes before leaving the house. She walked before her parents, boldly through the wall dividing platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross Station, and stood in awe of the scarlet steam engine that waited before her.
Andromeda and Ted followed her through the entrance to Platform 9 ¾. Leading her to a less crowded part of the platform, they turned to her with smiles that thinly masked their sadness at saying goodbye to their daughter.
They both said their goodbyes, muffled by hugs. "Now you keep out of trouble, Dora, you hear me?"
"Of course I will, Mum," she replied, rolling her eyes. Nymphadora turned to Ted, who gently wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.
"You behave, alright? Don't get into any trouble, like your mum said. Keep yourself safe."
"Promise."
She allowed her parents to kiss her goodbye before taking her trunk and hurrying towards the steaming train. Hopping on just in time, she turned to look out the window at the platform she was leaving behind. "Finally, Hogwarts," she whispered to herself, taking a seat in the first empty seat she found.
x
"I'm sure he's fine, Dora," Andromeda said softly on evening. She looked at her daughter with sad, caring eyes, and her voice was devoid of belief. She knew there wasn't much hope for Ted, out wherever he was. He didn't let her stop him from leaving. Over and over he said, "I'm putting you in more danger by staying," and however much she'd wanted to, Andromeda couldn't convince herself that he was wrong. Weeks had passed since they had last seen him, and they were all growing more nervous by the second.
"How can you say that?" Tonks whispered, sitting on the couch at Remus' side, his arm around her. She held the wireless in slightly shaking hands, as she had done every night since Ted left them. "He would've been better protected here. Now we don't know where he is or what's happening to him—they might not even find him to report—"
"That's enough," Andromeda said shortly, cutting her off. "Now turn that old thing off and come eat."
Tonks glared. "I'm not a child, Mother."
"Please," she replied coldly.
Dora sighed as Remus took the wireless gently from her hands and lowered the volume until it clicked off. "C'mon," he murmured, leading her to the table.
Dinner was a quiet affair, nothing heard apart from the scraping of knives and forks on plates and clinking of glasses. Tonks kept her eyes trained on her plate, not looking at Remus or Andromeda. She picked at her food, not eating much, and excused herself when she could sit at the quiet table no longer. Remus met her eyes, as though asking if he should go with her or not. She shook her head slightly, sparing a glance in her mother's direction. Andromeda's face was blank, staring at a cobwebbed corner of the dining room near the china cabinet. She said nothing as Nymphadora left for the living room.
She curled up on the sofa, pulling the wireless towards her. She tapped it impatiently with her wand, muttering the password "Albus" under her breath. Finally, she heard the voices of those behind Potterwatch. They were in the middle of the program by the time she'd been able to turn it on, and she arrived in time to hear a piece of news that made her heart sink. Just the thing she'd been dreading to hear. "It is with great regret that we inform our listeners of the murders of Ted Tonks and Dirk Creswell."
How was she supposed to react to this? Surely a part of her'd expected it, but she never truly thought it might happen.
Tonks threw the wireless against the opposite wall and it smashed. This action, however, did nothing to quell the fire within her. "He promised me he'd stay safe," she yelled, half-sobbing. Andromeda and Remus raced out of the dining room, a fork still in the latter's hand.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice tense. He knew what had happened – what else would've caused this reaction from her?
Nymphadora simply shook her head as hot, angry tears spilled out from her eyes. She squeezed them shut as her mother approached her hesitantly, tears on her cheeks as well. Andromeda pulled her daughter into a tight hug, tears falling onto each of their shoulders from the other's crying.
"And they just read it as more news. It's like no one even cares. He's gone," she whispered, her voice cracking at the last sentence. She ran from the room to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She leaned back against it and sank down to the floor.
Tonks looked up through her eyelashes at the wall across from her, where she'd tried to paint it blue all those years ago. She remembered the pure joy the colour had brought to her, remembered being young and innocent and carefree, showing off her Metamorphmagus powers to her mum and dad, watching the smiles that radiated on their faces when they saw how happy she was. All she could wish for was a way to bring that happiness back. To bring her father back. But she wasn't the naïve little girl she once was, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if that was the real loss.
x
This is ever-so-slightly AU in terms of Remus being with Tonks and her mum when they found out Ted had died, because in the book at that point, he was with the others for Potterwatch. Also, the quote from Potterwatch is taken directly from the Deathly Hallows.
I haven't written anything that long in way too many months. Major thanks to Rochelle and the other members of the Weasley Cabin on Camp Potter, who helped bring this fic to life. I honestly could not have managed to make it this long without them.
For Camp Potter (Week 1: Archery – Write about a father and child. Using the optional prompt 'wet paint') and the Represent that Character Challenge.