Way too brief

My heart was pounding so hard underneath my skin that it hurt. I was terrified.

Remus had left only an hour ago, and I hadn't heard anything since. I felt sick. I needed to be there, to fight.

The little turquoise haired boy pulling my hair was my wake up call. He smiled up at me, and I was so torn. Remus wanted me to stay here, to keep him safe, but how could he expect me to do that? I picked Teddy up and placed him in his crib. He looked at me, as if he didn't understand why I did so. I went to the kitchen were my mother was cooking dinner.

"Mother…" I spoke, but she cut me off.

"I'll watch him. Do what you have to do Dora" She said without even moving.

"If something should…" I picked my words carefully "…Go wrong, will you look after him? Be his guardian?" It even hurt to say the words.

My mother turned around to face me. I could see she'd been crying. Probably over dad, probably over me. I hated to see her like this.

"Yes, I will. But promise me something Dora. Be careful, be so very careful" Her voice was somehow unfamiliar, and it scared me.

"Of course mother, I promise" I sighed "I'll go say goodbye to Teddy"

I opened the door to Teddy's room and walked over to his crib. I kneeled besides it, and smiled at my beautiful baby. He looked… Worried? He couldn't be. He couldn't know about what was going on, he was only a baby.

"Mommy has to go now sweetie" I whispered, trying to sound strong "Mommy has to bring daddy home, I know you miss him" My voice broke as I looked into his innocent eyes.

I got up and bended over the crib to kiss Teddy on the forehead

"I love you so much. And so does dad. Don't you worry a bit; I'm going to bring him home"

And so I turned around, left Teddy behind. To close that door, was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I said my silent goodbyes to my mother, who was crying again, and then, I apperated right into 'the Hog's head'.

I now stood in the dusty and very dark pub.

"Lumos" I mumbled, and as my wand lit up the room, I saw Aberforth was making his way down the stairs.

"Who in the devil is coming this late" He muttered.

"It's just me Ab, I need to get through" I said looking Aberforth right in his piercing eyes.

"Ah" He said "Remus said that you might show up"

I frowned and opened my mouth to say something, but he spoke again before I could say something.

"I can't let you through Tonks, he said I shouldn't"

My head was burning, and I was getting angry at Remus.

"I bloody don't care about, what he said! I am going to try to get into Hogwarts one way or another, and if you don't help me, I might die in the attempt"

I was boiling, and I felt my hair changing its color to blood red. I would fight Aberforth right here if I had to.

"And why, are you not there Ab? Don't you want freedom? Don't you want to fight, to help Harry?" I was really mad now, and I almost tripped over my own feet.

"It's foolish to fight, when you-know-who already has won!" He was pacing the floor, and I don't think he really believed his own words.

"Let. Me. Through" My voice was cold as ice, and I wasn't used to hear myself like that.

Aberforth sighed heavily, and I knew he gave in.

"Very well" he said, and opened the secret passageway for me "You'll all end up dead" He mumbled.

I climbed into the hole in the wall, and looked at him one last time.

"At least we died trying" I shook my head at the man that was so like Albus in appearance, but didn't resemble him in any other way right now.

I saw something in his eyes, I didn't really know what it was, but to me, it looked like uncertainty. I turned around, and then, I ran. I ran as fast as I could, and at one point, I fell, and hit my knee on the stone hard ground. I cursed loudly over my clumsiness, but I didn't care; I had to get to the castle, so I kept running.

When I reached the end of the passage, I opened the portrait hole into the room of requirement, and jumped out. There was only one woman in the room, Ginny with her red hair. She looked shocked. After a few seconds, she ran over to me, and hugged me. She knew why I was here, and she understood me, therefore she didn't ask about Teddy. I pulled away, and looked at her. She looked almost as anxious, as I felt.

"Do you know anything?" I asked her.

She shook her head, I could see she was fearful, but I also saw, that she was fuming.

"They won't let me fight Tonks! I can't stand to stay here anymore. Not knowing anything is worse, than knowing the truth" She was shaking "I know, you know, how it feels"

I nodded; I knew exactly how she felt. It could tear even the strongest woman apart, not knowing if her loved ones were safe.

"I know Gin, but you have to be strong…" I said, with a hand placed on her shoulder.

Without warning the portrait hole was opened again. Both Ginny and I turned around, and saw, an elder woman, I recognised as Augusta Longbottom step out, followed by a man with a long grey beard, and bushy eyebrows.

"I knew you hadn't given up" I almost smiled seeing Aberforth. He brought some kind of hope with him.

"I knew you didn't stand a chance without me" Aberforth said, with a faint smile. Then he hurried out the door; he was finally ready to fight.

Suddenly the door was opened brutally, and Harry, Ron and Hermione stormed in. Augusta was the quickest, and hastily asked Harry a question. His answer made her, too, run out the door, with her wand ready. I saw that besides me, Ginny sighed of relief.

"Is everyone okay?" We asked as one.

"As far as I know" Harry answered.

He then looked at me once more, realising that I wasn't supposed to be here.

"I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother's?" He said straightforwardly.

"I couldn't stand not knowing -" My head was hurting, and I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation anymore "She'll look after him - have you seen Remus?" I was afraid of the answer, but I had to ask the question.

"He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds -" He answered.

That was it for me. I ran up the stairs and out the door, without saying another word. I ended up in an empty corridor, and I had to familiarize the place, before I went anywhere. Not a minute later Ginny was beside me again. I had my wand in a tight grip.

"We're on 7th floor" She informed me.

It was worse than I had expected. The walls and ceiling was shaking, and a thick layer of dust was hanging in the air everywhere. It irritated my eyes, but we ran to the nearest staircase, and found a couple of people fighting at the end of it. Ginny flicked her wand, and hit a deatheater in the chest with a perfect stupefy curse.

"Good girl!" Yelled a man passing by. It was Aberforth again.

He said something about giants, but I couldn't get the words right.

"Have you seen Remus?" My voice almost got lost in all the yelling, and screaming.

I saw his lips moving, but the only words I heard was "Dolohov" and "Haven't seen him since"

I could feel my stomach dropping. Ginny had heard it too. She looked at me, her eyes widened.

"Tonks," I could see her despair "Tonks, I'm sure he's OK -"

But I was already running down the stairs, three steps at the time. The dust hit my face, and I started to tear up. I probably couldn't blame the dust. Haven't seen him since. The words haunted my mind. Where was he? I was running, and inhaling the persistent amount of dust, my throat hurt.

The time that was no more than minutes felt like weeks passing by. I occasionally shot a curse at a death eater as I ran by.

Then I found him. He was in an intense duel with Dolohov, on the second floor. It was such a relief to see him, but at the same time, it was terrifying. He was good. Curses flew from Dolohov's wand, but he not only repelled them, he sent some of them back with such force, that Dolohov almost fell over. I knew it wasn't fair to attack someone, when they couldn't see you, Moody told me that once, but I wasn't playing fair anymore. So I flicked my wand ferociously, and Dolohov flew into the nearest wall with a great cracking noise.

Remus, who didn't know who his allied was, looked around, just to find me standing there, right in the middle of the untameable dust, gasping for air. At first he looked pleased to see me there, and he strode across the room. When he got closer his expression hardened.

"Remus" I sighed.

"I told you not to come" He said so quiet that I had to listen carefully to get the words.

"And you expected me to just sit there? Doing nothing, hearing nothing?" I said. My voice was still shaking.

"Well, what about Teddy?" He asked me.

"He's with my mother"

"But -"

"Remus John Lupin, I promised you that I would always be by your side, and I'm not going to break that promise" I said looking him straight in his intelligent dark eyes.

He nodded, and I understood it as he accepted my choice. I then threw myself in his arms; I had never been this relieved. He held me close and I cried silently on his shoulder. I wish we could stay like this forever; safe, and in each other's arms. But we couldn't. I suddenly became very aware of where we were, and I pulled away. Before I could let go of him, he leaned in and kissed me, as if he knew, it could very well be our last.

"I have always loved you Nymphadora" He mumbled into my ear. He said it with such gentleness, that my name sounded like the most beautiful on this earth.

"I will always love you. Until the end" I said with a tear trickling down my cheek.

All of a sudden I heard a sound, and as I turned around I saw that Dolohov had gotten up again, his wand pointing directly at me. Before I could react, he shouted something, and Remus stepped in front of me; his arms held as a shield to protect me. A green light shot out of Dolohov's wand, and at first I thought it missed us. Then I saw it. Remus' body started quaking, and he slowly fell to his knees. I tried my best to catch him, and ended up sitting on the ground holding him in my arms. I placed my hand on his chest looking rapidly after a heartbeat. It wasn't there. I let out a terrible rending cry. I caressed his scarred face, with my fingers. All I had fought for was gone, just like that.

A groan made me aware of that Dolohov was still in the room. It got to me. Before I knew, my hands were around his neck. I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands. I tightened my grip more and more, and Dolohov's eyes widened in a twisted way. He killed the father of my child, the man I loved. He was going to pay.

Abruptly I felt a shooting pain through my body. It made me scream in pain, and crumple on the floor. It was like daggers under my skin. Then the pain stopped, and I heard an ice cold cruel laughter. I turned my head and saw a woman with a sick expression on her face. The woman's wild and dirty black curls framed her face. Bellatrix. I knew I was dead already when I saw her. With the last strength I had in my body, I crawled over to Remus and slipped my hand into his.

I saw a little piece of paper on the ground. It was a photography of a little turquoise haired boy, happily waving at me. I took it in my other hand and pressed it against my heart. I felt the tears stuck on my cheeks. I had to be strong.

So I turned to face my destiny.