Chapter 2

A/N: I apologise profusely for not posting this chapter sooner. My only excuse is that I had forgotten that I had actually posted the first chapter. I hope that you like this chapter and there will be another one soon.

It had been 21 hours since Remus allowed the Healers to take his love from him.

18 hours since Tonks had been placed in the bed of the room that he now sat beside.

14 hours since Molly and Arthur had come by to see how she was.

12 hours since Albus Dumbledore himself had come to check on her.

8 hours since Alastor and Kingsley had bought Andromeda and Ted to see their daughter.

Kingsley had tried to get Remus to leave the room to give Tonks parents some time alone with her but he hadn't registered that he had been spoken to. Remus focus was still only on Tonks and he refused to let go of her hand.

Andromeda and Ted didn't mind letting Remus stay, they were just glad that he was taking good care of their daughter.

Andromeda questioned Remus, delicately, about Sirius and what had happened to him. Remus then asked Andromeda how he should tell Tonks about Sirius death. That conversation managed to distract him for two hours as the two tried to work out the best time and way to break the news to the Auror that they both loved dearly.

Everyone that visited wanted to know what happened, why it happened, who put Tonks in such a situation, if she was going to be okay, and if the Healers knew what had caused her to need treatment here.

4 hours ago Remus had been losing hope of ever seeing Tonks dark blue twinkling eyes again.

2 hours ago Remus had been told by a Healer that Tonks should wake up by the end of the week, he lost more hope.

20 minutes ago Remus had felt slight movement from Tonks fingers but still she didn't respond to his calling of her name.

Now Remus sat, more hopeful than before, waiting for his love to open her eyes.

Remus squeezed Tonks hand gently in hopes of waking her.

"Dora please…. Please wake up….. Dora I need you…. I love you….. Please wake up," Remus begged as tears sprung to his eyes.

Remus hated waiting and until she woke up he was all alone in the world. Everyone else had other people to worry about, he only had Tonks now.

As if she had heard his pleas Tonks fingers moved again, more obviously this time, her hand tightening around his own.

Remus lifted his head slowly to look at Tonks and noticed her eyelids fluttering.

All of the hope left Remus to be replaced with relief as her eyes opened.

Remus was on his feet in an instant to look her in the eyes.

"Hi," Tonks said hoarsely.

Remus smiled widely, tears still in his eyes, "hi yourself."

Tonks smiled softly and made a motion for water, her throat too dry to ask the question.

Remus immediately grabbed the water jug from the side table and poured some water into a glass and handed it to Tonks. He helped her to drink it having noticed that her hands were shaking slightly.

After he put the glass back on the side table Remus grasped Tonks hand in both of his and kissed each of her fingers delicately.

"What happened?" Tonks asked nervously.

Tonks and Remus had been together for a little over a year and Tonks was aware of all of Remus nervous ticks. He usually kissed each of her fingers when he had to tell her something but didn't know how to.

Remus refused to meet her eyes knowing that we he had to say was likely going to break her heart and he couldn't bare to be the one to bring her so much pain.

"Who?" Tonks asked, her voice shaking.

"S-S-Sirius," Remus choked out through the lump in his throat.

Tonks didn't say a word or even react for what felt like forever to Remus in that moment. His heart was breaking as he watched his love stare off into nothingness.

After what felt like an eternity the news sunk in and Tonks started to sob.

Within minutes she was bawling her eyes out and sobbing uncontrollably.

Remus was out of his seat and holding her close to him as soon as the tears started to fall from her eyes.

Despite the pain that Tonks felt in her chest from her injuries she held onto Remus tightly.

They had no idea how much time had passed as they remained holding onto one another for dear life. They were pulled apart by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

The couple turned to see Molly, Arthur, Fred, George, Alastor, and Kingsley standing in the doorway.

Remus motioned for them all to enter the room. Molly walked briskly over to the other side of Tonks bed to that which Remus was on. Everyone else situated themselves around Tonks bed.

Molly hugged her tightly, "I'm so sorry sweetheart."

Tonks took in a strangled breath and nodded slightly to acknowledge that she had heard Molly's sympathetic statement.

Alastor moved around to pull the women apart and inspect Tonks injuries, "you shouldn't be moving so much with broken ribs Nymphadora," he said sternly.

Tonks just nodded slightly in response before smiling softly, "I've had worse."

"Don't remind us," Kingsley sighed but his smile gave away that he wasn't really annoyed at her for her statement.

Alastor grunted, "next time there's a fight remind me to wrap you in a disillusionment charm. At least that way your enemy will have a hard time finding you."

Kingsley let out a full belly laugh in response, "didn't you already try that? Remember two years ago we were tracking some believed Death Eaters and you put Tonks under a disillusionment charm to keep her from getting hurt for the umpteenth time that month and she ended up tripping herself up giving away our position."

"Right, remind me to never let you on field assignments again," Alastor huffed.

Tonks had the decency to blush slightly at that, "I'm accident prone. There's no cure for that. Nothing can be done about it."

"There has to be something surely one person can't just be as naturally clumsy as you," Fred spoke up.

"Actually it's not a natural thing. Your dear brother Charlie decided to enlist Peeves help in having things randomly appear for me to trip over. I've been clumsy ever since," Tonks explained.

"Wow our brother is cooler than we thought," George grinned.

"Thanks," a voice behind them all spoke.

"Charlie?!" Molly, Arthur, Tonks, Fred, and George exclaimed in unison.

"Why are you all surprised? I told you I was coming for a week, I told you last week that I was coming this week," Charlie said.

"Of course dear but how did you know where we were?" Molly questioned.

"Well I was intending to visit my best friend only to be told by Andromeda that she was here, again. When I went home and you weren't there I figured you'd be here," Charlie explained.

"Wait what was Mum doing at my apartment?" Tonks asked.

"She wasn't, I forgot where you live so I went to your parents house," Charlie said, "so what did you do this time? I swear everytime I want to visit you you're in hospital."

"Well this time it's thanks to my lovely aunt, Bellatrix," Tonks informed her friend.

"Ugh, when will that bit… woman give you a break?" Charlie quickly changed the direction of his statement when he spotted Molly glaring at him.

"Apparently not soon enough," Tonks sighed, "she killed Sirius."

"How did you know that? I didn't get a chance to tell you," Remus said in confusion.

"I put two and two together, she's the only Death Eater that would want both of us dead. There's no way she would have given anyone else the opportunity, especially Lucius. She took me out first to give herself the chance to take out Sirius," Tonks explained, "she probably didn't plan on me surviving though."

"Well Lestrange is on the loose," Alastor stated, "You're on desk duty until I say otherwise," he decided.

Tonks sighed, "I guess there's no point in arguing with you?"

"None," Alastor said sternly.

Tonks just nodded.

"Really? You're just going to accept desk duty? You hate desk duty, you always argue why you have to be out in the field and Mad-Eye always gives in," Kingsley said in disbelief.

"Yeah well I figured that there's no point in arguing this time when I'm surrounded by people that would probably agree with Mad-Eye leaving me with no choice but desk duty in the end anyway," Tonks explained.

"If I had it my way you wouldn't go on another field mission," Remus informed her.

Tonks rolled her eyes, "I'm stronger than you give me credit for."

"I would never deny your strength but I also just experienced the worst 24 hours of my life give or take and I don't ever want to go through that again," Remus admitted.

Tonks smiled lovingly at him but didn't get the chance to answer.

"You do know who you're dating right? I mean I love her like a sister but man she is accident prone," Charlie said.

"Charles don't be an rude. We all know that Tonks can handle herself," Arthur said sternly.

"Thank you Arthur," Tonks said with a grin.

They all chatted for another hour before Molly decided that they should all leave to let the couple get some rest.

Even though Tonks was now awake Remus still refused to leave her side for the following four days that she was held in St Mungo's. When they allowed her to leave it was the day that the Hogwarts Express would be returning to London.

Tonks and Remus had just showered and changed at Grimmauld Place.

"I shouldn't let you come, you're still recovering. We can handle Harry's aunt and uncle without you," Remus said for the fifth time since they had left the hospital a little over an hour ago.

"I'm going to say this one last time Remus and if you don't get it after that then it's not my fault. I. Am. Going. To. Kings. Cross. Station. With. You. To. Talk. To. Harry's. Aunt. And. Uncle," Tonks said emphasising every word.

Remus sighed, "ok. Fine. You can come with me as long as you promise to take it easy this afternoon in your apartment."

"Fine," Tonks agreed.

The couple arrived at Kings Cross less than an hour later with only 15 minutes to spare before the train arrived. Alastor looked unimpressed to see Tonks. Kingsley, Molly, and Arthur gave her a slightly worried glance, while Fred and George looked happy to see her up and about.

"I tried to stop her but she's too stubborn, she's worse than Sirius," Remus explained to their companions.

"As long as I don't see that bubble-gum pink hair at work tomorrow or you for that matter then it's fine," Alastor said.

Tonks just laughed and shook her head, "I think Scrimgeour would have a fit if I turned up. He came to see me yesterday and told me to take three weeks off with pay. If I turn up tomorrow he's going to have two Aurors stationed outside my apartment door for the three weeks."

"Well then I think that's a good excuse to take some time off," Arthur said.

"I quite agree Tonks dear, you shouldn't even be here. You need to be resting to allow your body more time to heal. I'm amazed the Healers let you out so soon," Molly said.

"Well they don't know what spell Bellatrix hit me with so there's not much that they can do. They did warn Remus to take me in if something didn't seem right though," Tonks explained.

"Meaning I'll be watching her like a hawk," Remus promised.

Tonks rolled her eyes but smiled still, she knew how lucky she was to have Remus and nothing would change that.

The clock above them chimed to signal a new hour and the waiting families seemed to move unconsciously closer to the barrier. Even Molly seemed to move slightly more closer.

Tonks looked at Alastor, "see the Muggles anywhere?"

Alastor's magical eye was whizzing around in the socket clearly trying to find something or rather someone.

"Two pillars behind us, they look very uncomfortable already," Alastor informed their group.

Tonks, Remus, Kingsley, and Alastor watched in silence as Molly and Arthur greeted the kids. As Molly let go of Harry Remus stepped slightly closer and Harry moved closer to the four of them.

"Hello Harry," Remus spoke first.

"Hi," Harry responded, "I didn't expect… What are you all doing here?"

Tonks and Remus both smiled slightly as their companions looked around them to ensure that they weren't drawing too much attention.

"Well, we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home," Remus explained to Harry.

"I dunno if that's a good idea," Harry said quickly.

"Oh, I think it is," Alastor growled as he moved slightly closer to Harry, "that'll be them will it Potter?"

Alastor pointed his thumb over his shoulder as he magical eye refocused on the Muggles in question a few metres behind them.

Harry nodded in acknowledgement.

"Ah, Harry," Arthur said as he rejoined their group, "well… shall we do it then?"

"Yeah, I reckon so Arthur," Alastor responded.

Their group walked over to the Dursley's who looked appalled that Harry had so many people with him and slightly terrified as they looked at each person who approached them.

Tonks tried her hardest not to feel joy at watching the Dursley's squirm. They had all heard a variety of stories about the different things that Harry's 'family' made him do and none of them sat well with Tonks. She was glad that she was getting the chance to put the fear of God into these people.

Remus was trying his hardest not to punch Harry's uncle in the face for the horrible things he had done to Harry over the years. Harry was a special child who deserved all of the love and care that family should have for one another. Harry deserved the love and care that all of the people around him offered him every chance they had.

Tonks had to admit that she zoned out a little during their warning to the Dursley's. She was staring furiously at Petunia who should have protected and cared about Harry. She was his blood relative in a way that her husband and son could never be. Petunia should have loved Harry the way that Lily would have loved Dudley, unconditionally and completely.

Tonks stood there wanting nothing more than to take Harry home with her so that he wouldn't be sentenced to living with his horrible relatives for the next few weeks. She was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed that they were all saying goodbye to Harry.

Remus squeezed her hand gently to get her attention and Tonks pulled Harry into a tight hug with the promise of rescuing him as soon as it was possible.

Harry hugged her back tightly and thanked her, hoping beyond hope that she would be able to keep her promise.

Remus hugged Harry next and promised that they would get him out of there quickly.

Harry hugged him back tightly and thanked him, having both Tonks and Remus make that promise Harry hoped that they would be able to succeed.

Tonks and Remus arrived at Tonks' apartment already coming up with ideas for how to get Harry away from his relatives.