"I'm sorry, you did what again?" Andromeda asked in shock, rubbing her temples.

"I took a swing at a board member, and then Kingsley had me rehired." Tonks repeated, slower this time and in between mouthfuls of food. Her eyes were droopy and dark like her husband and mother, though Tonks' left eye had a purple bruised ring around it. Her throat was purple, distinct finger marks cupping her neck like a glass of water. Her right hand was also severely bruised under her sleeve; it had been broken earlier that morning, along with several of her fingers, and despite proper medical attention, it still sported a bright purple blemish.

"Now, could you explain to me exactly how those two things correlate?" Her mother asked.

"After everything got settled, most or all of the death eaters fled, and we headed to the Ministry. Kingsley got elected as temporary Minister, I asked for my job back, and he told me I could have it back... but once all the anti-werewolf legislation got sorted out." Tonks took another bite of food. "So I tried to hit the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"And did you?" Andromeda inquired.

"Hmm..." Tonks chuckled, staring down at the plate. "Well, I slapped his jaw pretty hard, but my hand was still too fuuu-um, messed up. Anyways, I told Kingsley I'd be back in the fall. He's getting some things sorted out and I wanted to have time with Teddy."

The baby was awake now, cradled in his father's arms, his big brown eyes staring off into space. He balled up his hands into fists, grabbing ahold of his father's shirt. His hair was still dark, almost black, like his grandmother's.

"Well, that's good." Andromeda nodded. "But I hope you don't regret what you did."

Tonks shook her head. "If I get in trouble, I deserve it, but he had it coming. He was the one that came after me and kept harassing me at work."

"Which one was he?" Remus asked.

"Ernest McDowell." Tonks scoffed. "Tall, ugly nose, you know the one."

Remus nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah. You should've aimed higher than his jaw." He remarked. Remus sported a similar attire to his wife: blood caked on his nose and down his cheek, a long cut stretched from his ear, down his cheek to the side of his mouth, and bruises littered his face and body in similar manner to his wife. The two were both dirty, covered in dust from broken concrete and and dirt from the grounds.

"So..." Andromeda scanned the two of them cautiously. "What... happened to you two?"

Remus glanced over at his wife, who had hoped to not be the one to tell her mother the news.

"Mum... it's... this isn't easy to say but..." Tonks stared at her plate, her mind replaying the events of the night before. The cheerfulness of her prideful accomplishment of revenge on the Head of the Department of Regulation of Magical Creatures dissipated. Her hair involuntarily began to shift to a mousey brown. "It was Bellatrix. She was the one to come after me."

Andromeda's face dropped, mumbling, "Just like Sirius... like your father..."

"Yeah." Tonks choked on her tears, trying to hide it behind a sip of coffee. Remus reached over, taking her by the hand that wasn't purple.

"My god, Dora... What did she do to you?" Her mother asked in a quiet voice, her hand resting on her chest, fiddling with the collar of her shirt.

"She just knocked me around, Mum, it's fine, I'm fine-"

"She used Crucio, didn't she?"

"It's no different from two years ago at the Ministry. She beat me around, broke my hand, and I'm fine now."

Andromeda shook her head. "I knew you shouldn't have become an auror. I knew that bitch would come after you and try to kill you. She did it to Sirius, she did it to Ted-"

"Mum, I'm alright, I swear." Tonks urged. "I-I was the one who... who..."

"Andromeda, Dora took care of her. I saw the body. Bellatrix can't hurt anyone else." Remus assured. "And Dora..." He didn't know what to say to her, or even, what to say about her to appease her mother. Her nightmares were awful enough before the battle, Remus knew things would only get worse from there.

The three stopped talking over each other, the only audible noise in the kitchen was the gurgles of the baby. Tonks' stomach tied itself in knots, forcing her to abandon the remains of her breakfast.

"Who else died?" Andromeda asked.

"I fought Antonin Dolohov. I know Greyback went down, as well as Snape, and of course... You-know-who." Remus actually winced saying it aloud, but he remembered what had happened the last time. "I know several students went down. Fred Weasley, as well."

Andromeda shook her head. "Poor Molly. Can't have been easy on her. None of them, but her especially. And George, of course." No one knew what to say. It seemed so surreal, they all wondered if it was just a dream, or a hallucination caused by their lack of sleep, though no one said anything about it.

Tonks pushed her chair away from the table. "I'm calling the shower." She announced, disappearing upstairs.

Remus had to feed Teddy again, burping and changing him before putting him dowm on his cot. He could hear water running next door in the bathroom and he walked over to the door knocking before cracking the door open. Fog covered the mirror above the sink, obscuring his view into the bathroom.

"Can I come in?" He asked. There was a sniffle and the sound of skin sliding against the porcelain of the bathtub. Remus stepped inside, no visible figure behind the pale shower curtain despite the water running. He walked over, sitting in the floor with his back to the wall, pulling the shower curtain back enough the see inside. "Hey."

Tonks was in the corner of the shower, her knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around her torso in a hug, her head resting on her knees. She flexed her toes, causing the scrubbing sound on the floor. Her hair was wet and messy, flopped over her shoulders in a dark brown; without her clothes, she was significantly more bruised and battered than she let on. "Hey." She replied, her eyes fluttering open.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk since last night. Are you okay?" Remus pointed out. He tugged up the sleeve on his shirt, reaching over to get the hair out of his wife's face, resting his arm on the lip of the bathtub. "That's a dumb question... How bad are you feeling?"

She shrugged her shoulders, flashing a green bruise on her shoulder blade.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you feel?" Again, she shrugged. Remus shook his head. "I... I don't know how to help you, Darling."

"I know." She reached her arm over to his, taking his hand. "I want to sleep, but I feel like I'll never wake up."

"Please don't fall asleep. I can't pick you up." Remus said cautiously, taking her hand. She looked over at him, her hair flopping back into her eyes. She giggled and repositioned herself to half-lean on him. "I know this is sweet and all, but I am literally just sitting here, getting hit in the face with water, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stay awake and we can do this somewhere else." He chuckled.

"Or you could just undress." Tonks teased in a sweet voice, a hint of a smile crawling onto her cheeks. "Come join me. I wouldn't mind."

"Maybe next time." Remus smiled, squeezing her hand before standing up to leave. "Just don't stay in here forever, alright?"