Remus was sitting on the bottom step outside his flat, waiting on Tonks. She wasn't due for another fifteen minutes, and judging by her regular punctuality, he probably wouldn't see her for at least twenty-five. He was waiting in his living room, ready to apparated into Diagon Alley, but for now he was simply sitting in his own living room, thinking about Tonks, and his choice in decoration.
Over the past five minutes he had convinced himself that going on patrol was nothing to be excited about, it meant another night of sleep lost and yet another difficult full moon next week when his sleeping patterns would again be disrupted. He knew that Dumbledore tried to avoid scheduling his patrol nights to close to the full moon, but what no one understood was that all the sleep Lupin had missed his entire life as a creature of the night had added up. He was years behind, so no matter how far form the full moon he patrolled, he was never going to catch that sleep up. It was another 8 hours added to his running total that were the cause of the permanently shadowy look his features held.
But he couldn't stop that small prick of happiness at getting to share the evening with Tonks, doing absolutely nothing other than talking, walking through a place they were both comfortable. She was easy to talk to, he considered her a friend now, one of the few people he truly revealed himself to. And not talking about his werewolf side, his real self, the Remus Lupin that was buried underneath walls of emotional stability he had built for himself since he was six and had to hide himself for the first time, really before he had developed "himself". She understood that part of him, and after the discussion a few days ago, it was hard not to feel a sort of kinship with her. Two outcasts who had found each other.
His choice in décor; however, was bothering him a little, for the first time since he had moved here almost five years ago. His old Gryffindor flag that was nearly as thin and fraying almost as much as his traveling cloak was hanging on the wall above a mantle that rested over a fireplace that only served as a closeable entrance to the Floo network. That was normal, he wasn't the only one that kept their old Hogwarts memento's hanging up, no, what really bothered him was the furniture.
None of it matched, the couch was a dull red like a bruised tomato, a Hunter's Green couch, and some sort of black and blue marbled footstool. None of it matched the thick gray carpet on the ground, or any of the posters hanging on the wall, which included his flag. Not that he really cared about matching furniture; this had been his bachelor residence for five years, or, as Sirius called it, "The Wolf Den". But if he ever had people over, it would look like a collection of homeless people had donated their furniture to him.
He beat down the thought. Who was coming over? No one. He knew what he had been thinking about, but he destroyed that thought almost before it formed. Tonks wasn't coming over, she had no reason to, he told himself. Unable to sit on the stairs any longer, he stepped outside and apparated instantly to outside Ollivander's, where he and Tonks had agreed to meet by owl. He leaned back against the building, taking off his cloak and vanishing it back to his flat at the feel of the warm spring breeze. He was wearing a white, long-sleeved button-up shirt, and black dress pants, his standard fare since he gotten twelve shirts at a sale for 3 galleons, and five pairs of the pants for the same size. It was a relief to have clothes that weren't so worn, but right now they were hot, too hot to really be wearing.
But he wasn't leaving now to change; instead he did a very un-Remus thing, and unbuttoned the top two buttons, careful not to go any farther so he didn't expose his scars. People didn't pay much attention to him though, only a few people spared him glances as he walked past, but no one lingered long, adding to the broad feeling of fear that was settling over the entire world. Even those who choose to believe the Ministry couldn't ignore that something was wrong, they chose not to admit it was Voldemort, but in no way were they pretending that everything was fine.
He only had to wait a few more minutes, leaning against the grimy brick wall of the building, when he saw Tonks approaching from up the street, walking much too fast to try to blend in, her hair long and brown blowing out behind her. "Remus." She said in a hoarse voice, reaching him.
"What is it?" He stared at her, his wand already in his hand.
"The Death Eaters have a raid tonight! We have to go now!" She grabbed his hand and before he could even react, and he felt the tug of apparition as she pulled them both to Voldemort's next scheduled victims.
The street they ended up on was pitch black, thanks to the ever-approaching twilight and the thick canopy of trees completely surrounding the neighborhood. "They're up here, we have to be quiet."
Tonks released his hand, pointing her own wand into the darkness, leading the way to the home he could barely make out in the trees. "Homunum Revelio." He whispered under his breath, his voice hoarse with his dry throat. No one was there, or if they were, they weren't in range of the charm.
Tonks led the way through the unlocked door, waiting until Remus was beside her to shut it quickly, locking it and sealing it with varying levels of enchantments before she moved to dot eh same to set up a protective coating around the house, a shield of sorts. Remus moved through the house however, looking for the family. He found them, cowering in a room, two twin boys, maybe five years old, and a girl who was maybe ten, accompanied by both their parents, both brandishing their wands, but look terrified just the same.
"We're here to keep you safe. Stay in her, no matter what happens." He turned to go back to Tonks, before a last thought struck him. "Put enchantments over the doorway and walls, hopefully they won't be necessary." And without a word from them, he pushed back into the living room where Tonks was waiting.
He stood about two feet from her, feeling the electric tension in the room. His breath came slow, but loud even though nothing happened for a moment. Minutes ticked by, but he didn't dare lower his wand, but he did steal a glance at Tonks, standing rigid, with her wand held aloft, waiting.
They were rewarded shortly, the high pitched laugh of Bellatrix Lestrange breaking through the walls of the house, followed by what sounded like a horrible explosion, sending the door flying in between Remus and Tonks to bang against the back wall. Bellatrix came into the house, followed by Yaxley, still emitting the high pitched laughter.
"Look who we've got here!" She curled his tongue over her teeth. "Hello, Remus." She said it oddly, mockingly, before she pointed her wand at him, a jet of bright blue light flying at him.
He blocked and dodged as she shot more curses at him, Yaxley moving to duel Tonks who had already shot a stunning jinx at him. Bellatrix was still smiling, laughing every time one of her hexes missed Remus and destroyed another part of the family's house, decorating the floor with debris and blowing one of the walls out completely. Remus knew he couldn't keep this up forever, Bellatrix realized it too, and with one last body-bind curse at Remus, she turned to her niece, raising her wand to hit a defenseless Tonks.
Remus shot a Stinging jinx at the back of her head as he missed the window of opportunity to block the curse sent at him. He felt his legs lock, along with his legs and he fell sideways, hitting his head on the end table before falling onto the broken remnants of the window, but not before he had seen Bellatrix's skin start to deform and her stuff her wand into her cloak as her hands swelled and she would have dropped it.
She let out a scream of fury as her skin continued to swell, and Remus, from his new found position on the glass coated floor could hear the crack as she dissaperated. Yaxley, seeing as he was now outnumbered, followed her shortly, leaving the house oddly quiet, a graveyard resembling what it had been.
"Remus!" Tonks didn't even waste a second, rushing over to him, releasing the body-bind curse, and pulling his upper body off the floor into her arms, getting his torso out of the rain of glass shards. She examined his head, muttering a simple spell, before helping him to his feet.
He was dizzy, the blow to the head causing more damage that he realized and he quickly sank onto the defiled couch while she left him sitting there while she went to tell the family. Minutes later she came back, but by then, his consciousness was almost completely gone. He could hear her telling him not to go to sleep, but he wasn't really paying attention to her, his brain was fading in and out, in and out.
He remembered them apparating, and her basically carrying him inside and up the stairs, even though he had no idea where he was. He remembered laying down on the bed, and her saying something.
Even though he had no idea what it was.
(A/N) First, I don't know if I spelled that spell right, sorry if I didn't, somebody please tell me. Second, as for the delay on the update, this will probably be my new norm, once or twice a week, sorry, but that's all I can handle right now. Third, I hoped you liked this chapter! :D Rand R as usual!