Trigger warnings- Alcoholism and depression are discussed, and began to be worked through, in this story. It is a story of healing!
Happy Reading!

Nymphadora loved her best friend, truly, but there were times she worried her. Melody wasn't normally one to throw caution to the wind, but had met a handsome stranger when the fear and paranoia of the war were first starting to take everyone hold. They'd shared little more than a weekend together before Kyle, who Tonks knew slightly as a Gryffindor boy three years ahead of them in school, was killed in a shop burning that was (suspected but never proven) to have been set by Death Eaters. He didn't leave Melody completely alone, however. Their son, Ethan was now five, and one of the happiest children that Tonks had ever met- but she knew that much of the time Melody ignored herself and justified it with Ethan. Though Tonks adored her godson sometimes Melody's depression that she used the little boy to hide worried her. Today however, the young boy had been left with his grandparents, to allow Melody and Dora to have some time to themselves and to be able to take their time for Dora's sake, considering how largely pregnant she was. Already they were having to stop for a snack, and they'd only been in one shop. And she intended to get her to open up.

"So-" Melody ask, taking a large bit of her sorbet into her mouth, "Do you think Teddy is ready for brotherhood?" Tonks snorted involuntarily.

"No! Merlin, no. But he'll never tell you that. He's so excited, poor baby has no idea. But I think once Hope is actually here he's gonna want to help. The boy is, after all, just like his father." She shoved a large bit of her fudge cover ice cream into her mouth and spoke around it. "He's bound to be a mother hen' just the same." Melody laughed, then huffed when a loose strand of thick black hair fell in her face. She stuffed it back into the messy bun and stirred at her snack.

"I'm surprised Remus didn't come with you, being you're about to pop, and all that." She commented. Tonks knew she was right, she was lucky to get away from his watchful eye. She had thought, when she discovered that they were expecting their second child, that Remus would not be as protective now that the war was over and the streets were once more safe. She had been wrong.

"He's busy, he and Harry have decided to stage an intervention on Sirius. Forty is old enough to grow up, and both Remus had Harry are sick of cleaning up his messes. Babying his hangovers. He's starting to worry us." She confessed. Melody raised an eyebrow. She had never been a huge fan of Sirius', from day one. They tolerated each other for the sake of Dora and Remus, and Teddy of course, but otherwise they weren't what one could call 'friends'. Melody was annoyed with Sirius' recklessness, and Sirius with Melody's, as he called 'stuffy goody two shoes nonsense'. Remus had long said it seemed to him to be sexual tension, but there was no way they'd ever get either one to admit it.

"Took him this long to stage an intervention? What took him?" She pondered. Tonks shrugged.

"Getting tired of trying to raise him too, I suppose." She winced slightly and placed a hand near her enlarged abdomen's base. "Braxton Hicks." She mumbled through the pain, then relaxed as the sharp stabbing sensation eased off. "So anyway, Remus and Harry are there now, and even took my poor Teddy-Bear as a distraction. They're going through the entire mansion and ridding it of alcohol." Melody laughed at this notion.

"I did not know Sirius could function sober." She said, shaking her head. Tonks looked her friend over and outwardly agreed. But inwardly, she wondered to herself about Melody and Sirius, and how they never seemed to be able to get alone. Truth be told Dora was reminded of flirting school children when they squabbled, but she never voiced such out loud. Not to anyone other than her husband, who had the very same notion.

"He'll have to learn sometime." Tonks said with a sigh. She loved her cousin, but she did have her doubts about how well the whole thing was going to work. After all, someone would have to spend a lot of time helping him stay dry for the first month or two. "Remus reckons he needs real closure from it all. To heal. Then he can stop." She sighed and again, her breathing short and heavy from lack of lung room. Tonks looked Melody over. Sometimes when they talked about Sirius, the metamorphmagus could see her friend relating to his plight, though it was yet another thing she'd never own up to.

"So, on to John Lewis, yeah?" Melody ask, tugging the hairtie from her locks and piling all of it back on top of her head before securing the midnight black mess back in place. Tonks nodded and stood, with a small amount of help from her friend, and Melody grabbed the one bag they'd procured so far. She smiled and leaned into her friend as they made their way up the street. "You know, I'd offer to carry Hope too, but..."

"Har Har Har" Tonks mock-laughed back. Melody got ahead of her a bit and Tonks took a rest to think of how to get her to open up.

Sirius felt ill. It wasn't the hangover from the night before that was bothering him, but rather the fact that he had allowed his life to come to the point where the people who meant the most to him where ganging up to try and fix him before it was too late. Remus words were still ringing in his ears. 'I have a wife, I'll have a daughter soon. The women you use are something to someone. Except you.' And he was not wrong. Sirius knew this. He shivered as he allowed the speech to replay in his mind once more. From upstairs he heard a sharp 'thud' and a stream of curses escape Harry's lips. He almost wanted to laugh, but at the moment was too disgusted with himself. Remus called to the young wizard from another room, and he heard Harry head to where Remus was. He and Teddy were sitting in the kitchen, waiting patiently, as patiently as a two year old could manage. Sirius gave the young boy a quick smile.

"Shall we save them some time, Ted?" He ask. Teddy, who was colouring, looked up and grinned.

"Yeah, Unca Padfoot!" He agreed excitedly. Sirius sat forward and slid his wand out of the back pocket of his jeans and flicked it once over his head. Not a second later several bottles, decanters and flasks came flying down and clattered onto the center of the table in a large group. There were at least seventy, by Sirius' estimate. This gathered reality only added to the sour feeling deep in his gut. Teddy sat with an amazed face, thoroughly impressed at what he had seen. He clapped his chubby hands in joy, helping Sirius keep his composure. It did not take long for both Harry and Remus to follow.

"You could've done that to begin with!" Harry pointed out in a humored tone. Remus sighed and shook his head.

"Is this all of it?" He ask sternly. Sirius wanted to roll his eyes.

"Why yes, Professor, it is. But you can spend the day tearing my house apart if it helps you. I mean I did just now get done fixing it up." Remus cut his eyes at his best friend, but he knew Sirius was being honest with him. And he was right, he had just finally completed the renovations on Grimmauld only three months back. It was a like a whole new place, and part of why Remus and Harry wanted to step in, before he destroyed it again.

"Sirius, that's..." Harry nodded toward the assortment of bottles on the table.

"Excessive?" He ask, giving a hollow chuckle. He swallowed back the rising bile and nodded. "I know." He looked to Remus. "What now, Moony?" He ask quietly. "You've got it all, so what is the next step?" Remus crossed his arms across his chest.

"Well- I suppose we have to dry you out. Could take a while, but we'll keep you company. Harry is going to stay here with you when work allows, and you're welcome to stay with Dora and me as often as you want. Use the kids to distract you?" He offered. Sirius nodded.

"And if I were to- shall we say- fall off the wagon?" He ask. Remus smiled gently at his old friend, the same way he always does with Teddy when he is explaining why something he's done is wrong.

"Then, we start all over the next day, Pads. Together." He pulled Sirius up into a hug. Sirius felt a bit shaky, like their first brotherly embrace when Remus learned of his innocence. After a second each man held out an arm, Remus' at shoulder level and Sirius' lower. Harry and Teddy joined their hug and held tight, letting Sirius know he had them to fall back on through the rough road ahead.

Somewhere along their shopping and girl talk, Tonks had struck gold- or possibly a nerve, she wasn't too sure. She and Melody had ended up back at Tonks' house, because once Dora had convinced the other witch to open up, it was like a dam releasing a river after a month of floods. She'd cried and confessed everything she'd been holding back- which was quite a bit considering that she had altogether stopped telling Tonks about her problems when Remus had left her during the war, as she didn't want to be a burden on her best friend, who had enough to worry about. The biggest problem there, Tonks had told Melody, was that she'd never started back to confiding in her. But it seemed that the wall Melody had thrown up was successfully reduced to a pile of ruble. Tonks sat beside Melody on the couch, rubbing small circles into her sobbing friend's back.

"See?" She said gently, "This is why we don't hold our problems in for three bloody years." Melody gave a slight, breathy laugh and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." She admitted. Tonks pulled her into as close a hug as the unborn baby within her would allow.

"So- after telling me all that, why don't you go see someone?" Tonks ask, trying not to hurt Melody's feelings. There were, after all, potions that could be taken weekly to help depression. You only needed to see a healer to determine which one was right for the case at hand.

"I-I don't know, Dora." She sniffed. "What about Ethan-"

"Ethan thinks you placed each ruddy star in the sky, Mel. He adores you, a Mummy's boy if ever there was one. He'll want you to feel better, be happier. Holding that in was very, very unhealthy my darling." She patted her friend's cheek and continued. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I just didn't-" Melody started, but Tonks cut her off.

"I am your best friend. I'm honestly a little insulted that you felt like you couldn't come to me anymore." Her voice truly sounded hurt.

"Dora, really, I'm sorry." She said, looking at her feet rather than the witch next to her. "I just wanted you to be stress free and happy."

"And you let yourself become so lonely and depressed that you were barely hanging on- all while trying to make everyone else' lives perfect? You can't do it all, Mel. Yes, I know you were trying so hard for Ethan, but you need to keep you healthy too." She stopped mid sentence and tensed up tightly, her hand shooting over to grab Melody's. Her face was not annoyed however, but pale, and Melody looked down in time to see a dark stain of water changing the color of Tonks' pale purple maternity pants. Melody couldn't help but grin.

"You know, I was just thinking my life could use a little Hope." She smiled at her own pun on the new babies name. Tonks swatted at her as she dug into her purse for her wand and shot a silvery wolf patronus after her husband.

"Shut up and take me to the hospital." She growled as Melody carefully hoisted her from the couch. Melody grinned and wrapped her arm tightly around Tonks' and disapperated them both to the receiving ward with a 'pop'.

Welp- Things for both Sirius and Melody are about to start changing, it seems. I hope that all my darling readers are enjoying this story. Please know that I take neither depression nor depression related alcoholism lightly and will treat both subjects with the full seriousness they deserve. I would love it if I woke up to lots of reviews tomorrow, maybe even a goal of ten or so? Please? For meee? *grins* . Thank you all so much for reading!
~Love and Hugs,

Duchess