New Love
It was a full moon and Tonks was left at home alone to look after Teddy. Remus had finally given in and let himself love her, yet she hated full moons. In fact, she hated any time she couldn't be with him. She just hated the full moons more because he often came back injured. She always went to bed, worrying about him, hoping he would be ok, hoping he would arrive home in the morning and was always extremely happy to see him when he did return.
That night was no different. Remus left the house at 7pm as he always did at the full moon and headed off to a deserted place where he wouldn't be disturbed. Tonks watched him go until he was out of site, then turned back to the house and closed the door. She went upstairs to check on Teddy, then poured herself a glass of wine and sat alone in the cold, dark house. After a few hours of doing nothing she went upstairs to bed, wanting nothing more than the morning to arrive and her husband to return home.
The following morning she got up at 6am as usual to feed Teddy, and then she sat downstairs waiting for Remus to come home. She waited for four hours, wondering where he was. Then an owl arrived at the window. She let it in and took the note from its leg. It read:
Dear Mrs Lupin,
Mr Remus John Lupin was found in the forest this morning with multiple head injuries. He was suffering from a sufficient loss of blood from wounds on his side and he was immediately taken to St Mungo's Hospital. They did everything they could for him but he did not make it. We are sorry about your loss.
Ministry of Magic
Tonks had to read the letter several times before the reality sunk in. She leant against the kitchen work surface to prevent herself from fainting in shock. She had always told him to be careful and he had always promised he would be, promised he would come home, promised nothing bad would happen. And yet it had. He was dead. She broke into floods of tears, unable to stop for at least an hour.
When she finally managed to stop crying, she went through into the other room and picked Teddy up. He was all she had to remind her of Remus and she already missed him dreadfully. She sent a letter to molly and Arthur to tell them about Remus and that afternoon, Molly turned up at the door.
"What happened, Tonks?" Molly asked after Tonks had made her a cup of tea and they were sitting together in the living room.
"I'm not really sure… All the letter said was he had multiple head injuries and sufficient loss of blood from a wound on his side…" she sighed, looking at Teddy, "What am I going to do Molly? It's not fair for teddy to grow up without a father."
Molly looked at Tonks sympathetically. She had found it hard to raise her children even with Arthur there so she knew it would be hard for her. "Well I'll always look after him if you want some time to yourself or anything," she said.
"Thanks Molly," Tonks replied, grateful for the offer but not entirely sure whether she would want time alone. It wasn't the time alone she wanted. She wanted time with Remus.
They continued to talk for a while but Tonks was much quieter than she normally was. She missed Remus so much she didn't even feel like finishing the cup of tea she had made herself. Molly decided that she should leave Tonks alone for a while to get used to Remus not being there so they said their goodbyes and she left.
Tonks noticed just how quiet and empty the house was and wondered whether her mum would mind if she moved back in with her, but then remembered her mum had a new boyfriend so they wouldn't want her hanging around all the time. She sighed, picking Teddy up again. She felt slightly closer to Remus whenever she held Teddy but it wasn't quite the same as being with Remus. In fact it was quite a bit different. She sighed and put Teddy down again, going back through to the kitchen to make Teddy's dinner. After feeding him, she put him to bed and sat alone in the dark, cold and empty house, thinking about the times she had spent here with Remus.
All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. She wondered who it could be at this time of night as she put her glass down and went to the door, wand ready in case it was someone playing some sort of trick on her. She opened the door and saw a tall red head standing in the doorway.
"Hello Tonks," he said, smiling down at her.
"Wotcher Charlie," she replied, opening the door further to let him in. "I thought you were in Romania?"
He shook his head, "No I got back this morning… Mum told me about Remus…"
"Oh right…" Tonks said, looking away.
"Are you ok?" Charlie asked, having never really been good in these sorts of situations.
"I guess I'll cope…" she replied, fresh tears glistening in her eyes.
"You don't seem to get much luck, do you?" Charlie asked, hugging her gently. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and she cried into his shoulder, holding him tightly. He held her close, stroking her back gently and soothingly. She eventually managed to stop crying but didn't want to let go of him. She had missed him, although she hadn't realised how much she had missed him until he arrived there that evening. She decided she should probably let go of him and moved into the living room.
He looked around the room and said, "Nice house…"
"Thanks…" she replied, still not looking at him.
"How long have you lived here then?" he asked, trying to think of something that might take her mind off Remus for a few minutes.
"Since…" she sighed, "Since I married Remus."
Charlie nodded and thought to himself that he really should try to think of something a little less likely to involve Remus next time he tried to change the subject. "So… are you still an auror then?" he asked, hoping this might be a safer option.
She nodded "Yeah I still work there but there's not a lot to do now as most of the death eaters are either in Azkaban or dead," like Remus, she thought, sighing again.
He nodded "Do you still see the Order much then?" he asked.
"Sometimes. I don't see them as often now though. I spend most of my time looking after Teddy. I guess I'll have to look after him all the time now Remus isn't here," she sighed again.
"Who's Teddy?" Charlie asked curiously.
"My son. Remus was his father," she replied, glancing up at Charlie to see how he reacted to finding out she had a child with Remus as well as marrying him.
Charlie was quite surprised that so much had happened while he had been away. The last time he had seen Tonks was at the station when he had left for Romania all those years ago. He hadn't expected her to get married, especially not to a werewolf, and have a child. He hadn't expected her to have grown up so much either. It took a few seconds for what she said to sink in. He looked at her and smiled slightly, "So where's Teddy at the minute then?" he asked.
"He's upstairs asleep," she replied, "He's only about 9 months old."
Charlie nodded and said "Only nine months?" and shook his head. Nine months old and fatherless. That was going to be hard to explain when he was older.
Tonks nodded and Teddy started crying upstairs. "Or maybe he's not asleep. I'll be back in a minute," Tonks said, running upstairs to see to Teddy.
Charlie looked at one of the photos on the mantelpiece and guessed the man in it holding a little boy must be Remus. He felt sorry for Tonks, having lost so many people close to her recently. His mum had told him about Sirius dying, Dumbledore dying had been all over the papers, his mum told him about Ted Tonks dying and now he had found out about Remus dying.
He heard Tonks coming back down the stairs and turned back around to see her holding the boy from the photograph in her arms. "This is Teddy," she said. Charlie smiled at the boy who looked tired and confused. "I think he misses his dad," Tonks said.
Charlie nodded "I should think he does. It's probably really confusing for him."
Tonks nodded and Teddy looked at Charlie and a grin spread across his face and he laughed, "I think he likes you Charlie," Tonks said, smiling. "Do you want to hold him?" she asked.
"Ok," Charlie replied, taking Teddy from Tonks and holding him gently. Teddy giggled and hugged Charlie, his hair turning blue. "I take it he got that from you!" Charlie said, laughing.
Tonks laughed "Yeah I think he did! He has an annoying habit of turning it really bright green and it really doesn't go with the idea that he should belong in Gryffindor," she laughed again.
"Remus was a Gryffindor then?" Charlie asked as Teddy giggled some more.
"Yeah he was," Tonks replied, smiling. "He was friends with Sirius, James and Lily." She smiled at Teddy looking happier again. "That's the happiest he's been all day!" she laughed.
"Well I'm glad I make someone happy," he laughed, then noticed the slightly confused look on Tonks' face. "My girlfriend left me because I'm apparently not good enough," he laughed.
"Well I think Teddy would disagree with her!" she laughed "And you're not that bad anyway!" she said, smiling at Charlie. "I mean before you got here I was like some sort of angry monster!"
Charlie laughed and Teddy laughed at Charlie laughing. "So my only purpose in life apart from getting dragons to breed with one another is to make Teddy laugh at me?" he laughed and so did Teddy.
"Well if he's happy I usually am," Tonks replied, smiling at Teddy laughing hysterically at Charlie. "I think he needs to go back to bed soon or he'll be tired in the morning."
"Yeah I think he does," Charlie said, passing him back to Tonks. Teddy looked at Tonks and started crying again.
"Well that's nice!" Tonks said, laughing, "Could you come upstairs as well, just so that he thinks you're staying? It might make him sleep faster."
"Ok then," Charlie said, following Tonks upstairs and into Teddy's room. Teddy smiled up at Charlie from in his cot and soon fell asleep with a big grin on his face. They quietly left the room and went back downstairs.
"He's a cute kid, Tonks," Charlie said, smiling.
"Thanks," she replied, smiling. "And thanks for being here for me tonight."
"It's ok," he smiled, "If you want to talk I'm always here."
"Thanks Charlie," she said, hugging him. He smiled when she hugged him and hugged her back. He had missed her when he was out in Romania and not just as a friend. He guessed she probably didn't feel the same way though as she had gotten married to someone else and had a child with him and now she was recovering from losing them. He decided he should just be there for her as a friend as being her friend meant more to him than a one night stand that would probably end their friendship forever and hurt her even more than she was already hurting.
Tonks smiled when he hugged her back, wanting to be more than friends with Charlie. She was still hurting a lot from losing Remus and she still loved him more than she had ever loved anyone else. There was just something about Charlie that she had always liked. They had always just been friends though. She didn't know if he liked her back but knew she couldn't do anything about it anyway at the minute as she was still too much in love with Remus.
They let go of each other and Tonks smiled at Charlie who smiled back at her. "I should probably be getting home…" Charlie said, although he didn't want to leave.
Tonks nodded "Yeah I guess it's getting late…"
"Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Charlie asked hopefully, wanting to see her again soon.
"Yeah I'll be here," she replied, smiling and hoping they could see each other again the next day.
"Ok I'll come round if you like?" Charlie asked and Tonks felt her heart leap.
"That'd be nice," she smiled, "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Yeah," Charlie replied, smiling.
"Ok then. Good night, Charlie," Tonks said, smiling as he stepped out of the house and onto the street outside.
"Goodnight Tonks," he replied, smiling.
