The next morning, Nymphadora came down the stairs with Teddy sleeping peacefully in her arms. She went to the sitting room, amusing herself by reading the Daily Prophet like her dad used to every morning. She found that the news of the Lestrange brothers moving to the Tonks house had already been published. Muttering to herself in annoyance, Tonks continued reading and found that her suspension from the Auror Office was mentioned, with Reanne quoted as saying, "We must be more careful now to keep security tight, especially for those who have been strained under the pressures of war."

Nymphadora glared at the picture of herself and the Lestranges on the front cover of the paper. "He's practically saying that I cracked during war!" she growled angrily. "And now I'm gonna go around torturing and killing people! Oh, wouldn't that be fun! I could have started with Reanne yesterday!"

She felt Teddy stir on her lap and said, "Oh, you're finally awake, aren't you, love?"

"You talking to me?" said an incredulous voice. "Prophet might be right about you."

Tonks all but threw the newspaper at the speaker. "Quit poking your nose in my business at all the wrong times!" she spat at him, holding her son closer. "Go away. I definitely was not referring to you!"

He stepped closer to her and she shrank back into the chair, reaching for her wand. "You know," he said, "doing that only encourages me to see how scared of me I can make you. After all, how much can Nymphadora be scared of her 'love'?"

"Shut up!" Nymphadora cried, horrified. Teddy opened his eyes and cried out, his hands reaching for his mother.

"You should teach him not to cry for what he wants," Rodolphus said suddenly, distracted by the child.

"When you have children," she snarled at him, "you can raise them the way you please. Let me raise my child my way!"

A shadow of pain suddenly crossed Rodolphus' face, and he said tiredly, "D'ya wanna know something, Nymphadora? I was supposed to have children. But they died—miscarriage—in Azkaban. We wanted a family; we were supposed to have a family, but it never worked out." His eyes flashing in fury and something else Tonks couldn't quite see, he looked away from her, seething. "I didn't even know until thirteen years after they died," he added bitterly. "Bellatrix told me that it was a small price to pay for serving the Dark Lord." Rodolphus shook his head. "I'd never Cruciated her before. I made her scream—I made her beg. I made her promise that, if she was ever with child again, she'd do whatever she could to bring the child to life. It never happened."

Nymphadora was so shocked that she couldn't speak for several minutes. Rodolphus wouldn't look at her, staring away from her at a picture on the mantle. Teddy cooed softly, and his mother looked down at him, realizing that he was reaching for Rodolphus in his baby way. For a minute, Tonks felt worried, but pushed the feeling away and stood, walking over to the man.

"Would—would you like to hold him?" she asked Rodolphus softly, indicating the child in her arms. Rodolphus looked up warily, then nodded and held out his arms for the little one. Nymphadora gently laid the child in Rodolphus' arms and stepped back to give him a little space.

Teddy looked up into the face of the one who was holding him and gave a happy shriek, suddenly changing his hair black to match what he saw. The child didn't know, but his eyes turned dark as well, and Rodolphus almost smiled at him.

Tonks watched them together and smiled proudly, yet sadly. Rodolphus cradled the child against his chest, whispering to him. Finally, to Tonks' surprise, Rodolphus kissed the top of the child's head and held him out to Nymphadora. "Here," he said softly. "Thank you."

Taking Teddy back, Nymphadora noticed that Rodolphus' eyes were no longer dull, but that they shone with hope. She nodded, and when her hair bounced over her shoulder, she realized that it had turned pink. Teddy squawked at his mother, and she giggled. "He's hungry," she said, then turned to Rodolphus. "I'm going to go prepare a bottle for him. Do you want to come with me? I might need you to hold him for me."

Rodolphus stood and followed her without another word. "I really didn't come down here to rant," Rodolphus said after Nymphadora had handed him the child again. "I came to ask you if you were insistent on making your late husband a werewolf permanently."

Crash! Nymphadora whirled on him, but he wore a perfectly innocent expression, looking down at Teddy. She drew her wand and put the ceramic container back together before picking it up and turning her back to Rodolphus. "Why must you insist on prying into things that are none of your business, Rodolphus?" she asked coldly.

"None of my business?" he repeated. "You saved my life, Nymphadora. I owe you a life debt." He raised his wand and caught the jar before she could smash it again. "Rabastan too. I don't want you to throw your life away, Nymphadora. I told you before: Lupin didn't embrace his werewolf form, and you would force it on him eternally. Not only would you do that, but you're planning to stay with him when he transforms tomorrow night. Yes, I know about this," he said sharply as he raised his head to look at her. "You'll possibly get—mauled to death, or bitten and become a werewolf yourself, or—you can't do this, Nymphadora. What about your son? Are you going just going to walk out and leave him? 'A small price to pay for being with Lupin forever,' huh?"

"Stop," said Nymphadora in a choked voice. "Please, Rodolphus."

"What do I have to say to you?" he asked her finally. "What do I have to do to get you to change your mind?"

Tonks turned to him squarely. "There is nothing you can do or say," she said, her face pale. She held the bottle out toward Rodolphus. "Do you want to feed him, or shall I?"

Rodolphus held out the child to Tonks after an awkward look between them. "So I just have to wait and see if you survive, huh?" he said, watching her and Teddy. "I hope I won't have to explain your gruesome death to your mother."

Her body jerked, and she looked over at him, biting her lip to keep back her tears. "Rodolphus," she whispered, "sometimes there are just things that we have to do, and this is one of those times. I'm sorry."

"Fine," he said. "Good luck." Turning around, he walked deliberately out of the room.

Tonks sank into a chair as a tear stole down her cheek. She wiped it away, but another joined it. Stop, she told herself fiercely as Teddy cried for his milk. She held Teddy close, trying to stop the tears that were trying to escape. "Shhh," she whispered to Teddy, holding the bottle so he could drink from it. The child's cries stopped, and Tonks sniffled a little, wiping her eyes on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Teddy. "That's Bellatrix's husband. He's insufferable."

Teddy looked at her, his eyes still dark, seeming to disapprove of her words. "I'm sorry!" Tonks said again, sighing. "He makes me so angry, and he thinks he knows exactly what I need to do when he doesn't!"

"Who does?" Andromeda asked, breezing into the kitchen. "Rodolphus? What did you do to him? He seemed quite upset when I passed him on the staircase."

"He was being nosy and I told him to mind his own business," Nymphadora said firmly, making sure that no sign of her tears were left on her face. "He wasn't pleased, but he left me alone."

"I noticed that you two aren't thrilled to be around each other," Andromeda said drily. "Not that I expected you to be best buddies—"

Tonks looked horrified. "Mum! Never!" Teddy let out a squawk when his mother accidentally jerked his bottle out of reach. "Sorry," she told him for the third time, and gave it back to him.

Andromeda grinned. "I know. Be careful around Rodolphus, though. He still acts slightly off-colour."

Nymphadora shook her head, remembering some of the weird things he'd said to her. "Of course, Mum," she replied.

Later that day, Andromeda sent Nymphadora up to Rabastan's room with a Blood-Replenishing Potion. Entering the room, she was dismayed to find that Rodolphus was there, talking to his brother. Setting down the potion on the nightstand, she told Rodolphus to make sure that his brother drank it all and turned to leave.

Rodolphus grabbed her by one arm, and she drew her wand, blasting his hand away from her arm before he could blink. "Sweet Merlin," he sighed. "Just come here, Nymphadora." She backed away from him, wand at the ready. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."

"Right," she hissed. "Just like this morning."

"Attacking girls?" Rabastan asked his brother with a smirk. "Didn't think you were the type—oof!" Little brother received an elbow directly to the stomach.

"Something that I forgot to tell you," he said to Nymphadora. "I'm done asking questions and trying to persuade you not to act like an idiot."

"Thanks," growled Tonks.

Rabastan took a deep breath and called, "Just come on over, Tonks. He'll be good...at least for now." He dodged another blow from Rodolphus just in time.

Nymphadora scowled and came over to stand by the nightstand, away from both men. "Speak."

"Ever the Auror," Rabastan teased, and she glared at him.

"Don't tease her about that," Rodolphus snapped at his brother. "She got busted for pretending to be Bellatrix."

"Bummer," commented the younger man.

Rodolphus ignored him and focused on Nymphadora. "Since I can't stop you, I want to give you a piece of information," he told her. "Imperio works on werewolves."

Tonks stared at the older Lestrange in shock as the younger one cried, "You're mad, brother! She's an Auror. You don't go around advising them to—"

"Hush," Rodolphus ordered, not taking his eyes off of her. "She is not a normal Auror, Rabastan. Noble blood flows in her veins."

"Albeit tainted," Rabastan pointed out, receiving a backhand on the shoulder.

"Shut up," Rodolphus snapped. "This is the woman that both of us have a life debt to, and you shouldn't speak of her so lightly. Especially when I saw her flawlessly pull off an impersonation of Bellatrix!"

"Aw, has BellaDora stolen your heart?" Rabastan taunted, and a resounding crack was heard as Rodolphus cracked his brother's head against the headboard of the bed. Rabastan dropped limply to the bed again.

Tonks rolled her eyes and shooed Rodolphus away from the edge of the bed so that she could help Rabastan. "Enervate," she muttered after healing his head. "Goodness, Rodolphus. Such revenge!" Once Rabastan was alert enough, Tonks helped him drink the potion that her mother had sent up for him. "Good," she told him quietly. "You're coming along, Mum says. Should be well within a few days."

He nodded, and Rodolphus said, "Don't forget what I told you, Nymphadora."

"Don't call me Nymphadora," she hissed between her teeth.

"You didn't complain before," he pointed out, and she growled at him.

"I'm complaining now!" she snapped.

Rodolphus shook his head. "Just go return to whatever you were doing and let us exist in peace before you turn the world upside-down again tomorrow night," he ordered her.

Frowning, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin marched off.