AN: Hi everyone! First of all, I'd like to apologise for the fact that this chapter is over a week later than when I had promised it for. After publishing the second chapter, I had thought that this story was then complete, but a number of requests from readers led me to write this. I'm still not entirely sure about this chapter (this is about the sixth or seventh version), but I realised that if I didn't publish it now then I never would. This is the final chapter for this story- I don't think that I'd be able to write anything else for it.

AN(2): This chapter was inspired by the song from Disney's Pocahontas entitled "If I never knew you". When I was searching for the song lyrics online, I found a slightly different version by Jon Secada, and I thought that those lyrics would be more appropriate for the chapter, although I much prefer the version from the Pocahontas film. The descriptions of the singing are based on the singing abilities of two of my friends rather than the actual songs (although if you wanted to link it to either of the versions, it would probably link in with the Disney version). Song lyrics are in italics.


Tonks blinked as she found herself on the edge of a small cluster of trees, gazing out onto some beautiful public gardens. Thankfully it was still early in the morning, meaning that their unexpected arrival had gone unnoticed by muggles. She turned to look up at Remus.

"Where are we?" she asked

"Bath. Parade Gardens, to be precise"

"Why?"

"If I'm perfectly honest, then I'm not sure. I think it must have just been the first place that popped into my head when we ran out of the house"

"Ok. Well, it's pretty, anyway- do you want to go and explore?"

Not giving him a chance to answer, Tonks grabbed Remus by the hand and tried to drag him away from the trees, but she tripped on a twig concealed in the grass and fell backwards towards the ground, bracing herself for the impact that never came. Instead, a pair of surprisingly strong arms caught her around her waist and guided her back upwards, but they didn't let go of her.

"Thanks, Remie" Tonks breathed. His hands on her waist made her feel slightly breathless, as though she'd just been running. Putting her own arms around his shoulders, she leaned in and started kissing him. Remus responded with equal enthusiasm, breaking away a few minutes later.

"Come on, I thought you wanted to explore?" Remus asked his now pouting girlfriend.

The two walked through the gardens, eventually coming across a set of steps, which brought them out on a wide bridge. Unsure of what to do next, the two sat down on a nearby bench to enjoy the relative quiet of the early morning. It was then that Tonks noticed a young-ish couple on the corner of the bridge, standing just a few metres away from them. She watched them for a few minutes as they set buckets on the ground and fiddled about with what looked like an old muggle CD player. She wasn't sure what exactly they were about to do, but it was certainly interesting, and when they started a duet together, both she and Remus gasped slightly at the song when the boy started to sing in a deep, rich voice

If I never knew you, if I never felt this love

I would have no inkling of how precious life can be

And if I never held you, I would never have a clue

How at last I find in you, the missing part of me.

In this world so full of fear, full of rage and lies

"Well, that's one way of describing this awful war" thought Remus to himself.

I can see this truth so clear, in your eyes, so dry your eyes

And I'm so grateful to you, I'd have lived my whole life through

Lost forever, if I never knew you.

The boy seemed to have stopped singing now, to be replaced by the higher, almost operatic voice of the girl.

If I never knew you, I'd be safe but half as real

"Wow, that's pretty much what I was trying to convince Remus of earlier", thought Tonks to herself, "only I'd be perhaps slightly safer, not completely safe, but I guess the idea still applies" She gripped Remus' hand a little more tightly in the hope that he'd understand what she was thinking, and took the return squeeze as his accepting her point.

Never knowing I could feel a love so strong and true

I'm so grateful to you, I'd have lived my whole life through

Lost forever, if I never knew you.

Tonks blinked away the tears that had begun to form throughout the song as the boy and girl turned to sing towards each other

I thought our love would be so beautiful

Somehow we make the whole world right

I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong

"They should try living as a werewolf then. Strong doesn't even begin to cover it" Remus thought to himself bitterly, or at least as bitterly as he could with his beautiful new girlfriend sitting next to him. She'd looked past all the hatred and saw him as a person, something he was incredibly grateful for, and still not entirely sure he deserved.

All they leave are worthless whispers in the night

But still my heart is saying we were right.

"We are right together, I know we are" Tonks muttered to herself, as the two began to sing lines at each other again

If I never knew you

There's no moment I regret

If I never knew this love

Since the moment that we met

I'd have no inkling of how precious life can be

If our time's auspicious as that

Is here to last

I thought our love would be so beautiful

So beautiful…

Somehow we make the world right

I thought our love would be so beautiful

We turn the darkness into light

And still my heart is saying we were right

We were right

And if I never knew you

And if I never knew you

I'd have lived my whole life through

Empty as the sky

Never knowing why

Lost forever

If I never knew you

As soon as the song was over, Tonks leapt up from the bench and dragged a slightly startled Remus over to the couple, who were now fiddling with the CD player again.

"Hi" she said, not entirely sure where to begin. The boy and girl jumped suddenly when Tonks addressed them, the boy looking rather warily at her spiky bubble-gum pink hair.

"Err- can we help you?" The boy was a little confused- he'd been busking for years, but the only time that people ever spoke to you was when they wanted you to move because you were blocking their driveway or something. This pink-haired girl didn't look like a policewoman, nor were they in anyone's driveway, but wouldn't drop his guard until he was sure that she wasn't going to accuse him of trespassing or something.

"I was just wondering why you were singing on a bridge" replied Tonks

The girl looked up from the papers that she was now flicking through. "We're busking- you know, singing in the hopes that people will make a donation. Basically, we're trying to help disadvantaged kids by singing".

"Oh, ok". By this point Tonks was digging through the pockets of her jeans, trying to find the muggle money she was supposed to carry with her on Auror missions in case she ended up in a muggle area. She eventually dug out a small handful of coins, and after picking out a few sickles, put the coins into the nearest bucket before turning to Remus.

"Come on, Rem, I want to have a look around for a bit before we have to get back to Snuffles". Leaving the couple to carry on singing, they walked along the bridge in the opposite direction. It was Remus who spoke first.

"We'd better get back pretty soon- you've got another shift in a few hours with the ministry, and Sirius will be awful later today if we're much longer, especially if we don't bring him back anything"

Tonks sighed, and then dug through another pocket for more muggle money. Remus looked on in slight curiosity

"Why do you carry around Muggle money, Dora?"

"Moody told me to keep some with me on missions in case I end up in a muggle street or something and can't get the Knight Bus or apparate out. Most of us at work carry the money around, but I'm one of the few who can actually understand it. Anyway, there's a cake shop over there, let's grab something for Sirius before we get back- hopefully he'll be slightly more bearable if we give him cake"

A few minutes later, Remus and Tonks found themselves armed with several boxes of cupcakes and looking around for a suitably deserted side street to apparate back to London. After a few minutes of searching, they found one, but neither of them were particularly keen to face the musty gloom of Grimmauld Place just yet.

"Do we have to leave? I want to stay here for a bit longer" begged Tonks.

"We need to get back to Sirius, Love"

"I know, but I don't think that I could really face a whole day of his teasing. He's been bad enough as it is these past few weeks, and now we've gone and given him a whole new reason to tease us"

"I guess you're right, but you know that it's only going to get worse the longer we stay out"

"I suppose so, but…" Tonks broke off, as though slightly embarrassed

"What is it, Nym?"

"Well, it's just, I can't do this back at Grimmauld" she murmured, then reached up to press a quick kiss to a surprised Remus' lips, who quickly returned the gesture.

"I'm afraid that we're going to have to make do with the park near Grimmauld, Dora- it's too dangerous to keep disappearing off like this without telling anyone where we're going". Remus sighed- for a few blissful minutes he'd managed to forget about the war, and now it had come back to him with all the subtlety of an angry hippogriff.

"Alright then. I'll grab your arm- it'll be easier if we side-along back". Tonks grabbed onto Remus and prepared herself for the familiar squeezing sensation of apparating. They re-appeared in the dirty side alley near Grimmauld Place that they often used for apparating, and began to walk towards number 12. A few metres from the door, Tonks stopped suddenly.

"I don't want to have to go back in there. The war…everything seems so much more real when we're in there. Plus, we'll have to put up with Sirius and probably Molly questioning us about everything"

"Nor do I, Love, but we'll face it together- not just Sirius, but the war, everything"

"Together?"

"Together". And with that last word, they walked united towards the concealed entrance, and towards the end of the war, towards their future. It may not have been a fairytale ending, but when Tonks allowed her mind to wander as she filed yet another report for the Ministry, she realised that she wouldn't have had it any other way.


AN(3): I wanted to use this space to apologise for my accidental implication that the first chapter of my next story, "Teddy's Travels with Time-Turners", had been published when I mentioned it at the end of the last chapter. The first chapter of that story is now posted and can be accessed through my profile.

AN(4): Thank you very much to everyone who has read this story, and especially to ThisLoveHasNoCeiling, HPfollower101, Ana Torres, iriblue, MsTonksLupin, Cass, iambananas, musicisglee and PurifiedDrinkingWater for reviewing (doubley thank you to HPfollower101 for reviewing twice!); iriblue for favouriting and HPfollower101 and musicisglee for adding this to their story alert list. Your kind support is sometimes the only thing that motivates me to sit down and type.