A/N: Thanks so much to iambannanas for the review. Hope you like this chapter!

Remus Lupin's first conscious thought was that he was in a strange bed, in a strange room, with a strange someone lying next to him. Yesterday's events flooded back, quickly solving the small mysteries. His second thought was that Nymphadora Tonks was sprawled over half the bed with her head on Lupin's chest and her arm curled around his waist.

"Nyphadora-er, Tonks." He whispered, sure that she would want him to wake her up. "It's time to get up now."

Tonks muttered something in her sleep and flipped over, burying her face in Lupin's shirtfront. He carefully extracted himself from her grindylow-like grasp and slid out of bed. Tonks started hugging the pillow instead of him. As he put on his boots, Lupin decided that it would be best if he never mentioned the incident.

…

Arty Monroe was a man with something to hide, a man with secrets. He had taken these many secrets out to the countryside, built a humble house on the high fells with a sagging roof and a pigsty out front. Arty Monroe had left a wife and two children behind in London, which was not something that a man without secrets did.

Lupin kept this in mind as he rapped on the door. Tonks was hovering behind him, waiting with bated breath. Her hair was a more conservative brown today, trimmed bluntly to her chin.

The door creaked slowly open a few inches, revealing a man gone mad with a plague of secrets. His hair was long and lank, hanging like a greasy curtain around his haggard face. His eyes were mad, the whites of them yellowed by years of firewhisky and lonliness. He wore a filthy smock, stained with the remnants of past meals.

"What the hell do you want?" He rasped. Lupin attempted to peer inside the dank interior of the house, making sure there were no surprises lurking there. He could see nothing.

"We're from Welfare, Mr. Monroe." Tonks piped up from behind him. "May we come in?"

Lupin was beginning to appreciate Tonks' sharp wit and quick thinking. Arty held the door open a few more inches, allowing the two Order members inside. The first thing that Lupin noticed was the stench. Something reeked of dead animals and blood. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, they also widened with shock. The place was filled with the carcasses of dead animals, some half-rotting and others quite fresh in appearance. Legs of beef and dead chickens dangled from the low rafters, and several other unidentifiable bodies were scattered on the floor. Behind him, Tonks stifled a gasp.

"So?" Lupin looked up to see Arty wielding a large butcher knife and staring at them through unusually bright eyes. "Do I get the money, eh?"

"Uh," Tonks stammered. "I don't know, sir. Your living conditions are quite, um, unclean and-"

"You're not from the government, are you?"

Arty Monroe was a world class liar, and he would catch any tall tale straight off.

"No, Arthur," said Lupin softly. "We're not from the government."

And then, faster than you could say 'hippogriff', Arty Monroe was plunging his hands into his filthy smock, screaming,

"CRUCIO!"

Blinding light flashed across the room and Remus Lupin dropped to the floor, writhing in silent agony. He had endured a lot of pain, been tortured a time or two before, but every time this curse hit him it felt worse than ever before. The pain was so bad that he couldn't even scream.

And then somewhere, through the agony, he heard Tonks shriek something above the din of Arty's made laughter. The pain stopped suddenly, and everything went blinding white.

"Lupin?" Tonks was gently prodding his shoulder. "Remus, are you alright?"

Lupin groaned and pushed himself from the floor. The stench of blood hung thickly in the air, coating the carcasses and everything that moved inside the house. Then he noticed the limp from of Arty Monroe lying on the filthy floor between a pig and a rotting sheep. He also noticed the tears shimmering in Tonks' eyes.

"He's dead," she murmured. "I killed him."

Lupin felt the heavy weight of guilt settle across them both. Tonks was staring straight ahead, amber gaze locked onto the pallid corpse. Lupin strode across the bloody floor and slowly drew back the dead man's sleeve. A faint scar was etched there, a skull with a snake pouring from the mouth.

"The dark mark," said Lupin. "He was a Death Eater."

Tonks swallowed hard and blinked rapidly.

"He might have been reformed. A lot of people have come across to the good side now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone…" She sounded desperate for this madman to have had a grain of good in him, and the yearning light in her eye made Lupin wonder how someone so cheerful, someone who strived to see the good in everyone, had made it this far as an Auror.

I suppose not everyone can be a jumpy, sly old bastard like Madeye, he thought.

"We should at least bring his body back," Tonks said. "We owe him that much…"

"No," Lupin said. "No one can know that we've been here."

Tonks shifted forwards, and he saw tears sparkling in her eyes. She was obviously fighting the urge to cry, clenching her fists tightly at her sides.

"Fine then," she snapped. "We'll leave him here to rot with the animals."

And with that she stormed outside. Lupin strode after her, out into the gently falling snow. After the reek of blood and filth, the crisp winter air was refreshing, though icy. Tonks was standing by a low hedgerow, hands stuffed in her pockets. Her hair had turned a sort of blueish-black that stood out like a raven against the clear snow. Lupin laid his hand on her shoulder and realized that she was shaking.

"Tonks…"

"Let's just go," she snapped. And she turned away from his grip and stomped away though the snowy yard. Lupin followed her up the white track that climbed high onto the gentle curve of the fell. Tonks was striding towards the phone booth, whose blue top was just visible over the heaps of pure snow.

"It's buried," she said quietly. "We'll have to apparate back."

Lupin desperately wanted to say something, to reassure her, but he couldn't think of a single word that would make the situation any better. Besides, she appeared seethingly angry right now, and Lupin had been warned by Sirius that provoking an angry Tonks was like poking a sleeping hippogriff in the eye.

"Let's just get back to London, eh?" Lupin suggested. Tonks squeezed her eyes shut and with a loud crack, disappeared. Lupin stood there for a moment on the deserted fellside. A bird's shrill cry pierced the silence, followed a moment later by a loud crack as Remus Lupin dissolved into thin air. Beneath the high fells, the village slept on.

…

Tonks' mood had morphed from anger into a deep depression by the time she and Lupin found themselves thawing out in front of the roaring fire. Despite the leaping flames, Tonks had not ceased shivering.

"There's no spell to bring back the dead, you know?" Lupin said quietly. Tonks looked greif-stricken, her eyes were probing the yellow flames as if she would find answers there.

"He had a family, friends. They'll never know what happened to him." Her pale hands tumbled over each other like mice on a wheel. "I know what it's like, not knowing."

There was a moment of awkward silence, broken by Sirius leaping down the stairs and landing at the bottom with a grin on his face.

"You guys are just sitting there? It's Christmas! C'mon, we're going to a party!"

"Not tonight, Sirius," Lupin told him quietly. Sirius glanced at Tonks, gave a light grimace and crossed the room to a lay a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, little cuz."

Tonks bowed her head, gaze fixed on the ancient floral rug as if she were attempting to memorize the patterns there.

"Thanks, Sirius."

"Oh, and Remus-there's fire whiskey in kitchen cupboard above the sink."

And then Sirius was banging through the door, already belting out some cheesy Christmas carol that Lupin had heard being shrilled out by Celestina Warbeck earlier on the radio.

"It'll be alright, Tonks." Lupin took her hand, hoping that she might derive some comfort from human contact. Tonks' fingers curled around his, and something like fire spread through his body.

"I know, Remus," she whispered. "I know."

Several hours later, the fire was dying and Tonks seemed to be attempting to drown her remorse in firewhiskey. She was already working her way through Sirius' secret stash of the strong liquor when Lupin attempted to pry the bottle from her hand.

"Too bad we had to leave the box there," Tonks giggled, clinging to the glass bottle. "Maybe they'll think the Doctor came to visit."

"Who's the doctor?" Lupin wanted to know, trying to pry Tonks' fingers away from her precious drink. Her grip was iron-strong.

Maybe that's why she's such a good Auror. Maybe she clings to people or something. But Lupin knew that Nymphadora Tonks was a good Auror because she was brave and tenacious and loyal, and all of those were traits that Alastor Moody admired both in himself and his pupils.

"You know, The Doctor! From Doctor Who! Honestly, Remus."

She had started calling him Remus now, and whether it was the drink talking or not, Lupin wasn't complaining.

Tonks clung to his arm, grinning. Suddenly she sobered and gripped his arm in earnest.

"A good man goes to war, Remus," she informed him seriously.

Lupin sighed and watched the dying embers gleam in the darkened parlor.

"Doesn't he always, Nymphadora?"

Well, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for the nerdy Doctor Who reference in the end. Just couldn't help it. Please leave a review telling me what you think of it. Thanks and have a good week!