Remus stepped into the bedroom. "I think Teddy's ready-" He stopped when he caught sight of the witch sitting at his wife's dressing table. He looked around the room, wondering how his mother-in-law had arrived without him knowing, before his eyes returned to the curly black mop of hair held up with a very extravagant jeweled clip. It was the smirk that caught his eye.

"What do you think?" his wife asked as she stood.

Her face was slimmer than normal and her cheekbones were more pronounced, her nose perfectly straight and her complexion creamy. There were still traces of her in it, but you had to look for them. "You look very...like a Black."

She grinned. "That's what I was going for. Time to remind these gits who they're dealing with. About time Mum's side of the family did me some good." She stood and fluffed out her robes. "What do you think?"

He whistled as he looked her up and down and she twirled for his inspection. Her jade robes nearly glowed on her. Sapphires at her neck and wrist caught the light and her fingers glittered with jewels. Her wedding band, by far the dullest piece of jewelry she now wore, was hidden under a giant ruby. "Where did all this come from? You didn't rob a jewelry store while I took Teddy for ice cream did you?"

She shook her head. "They're Mum's." She laughed again when his eyebrows went up. "It's all false. Dad had a friend as made jewelry. He knew Mum was sad she never got her inheritance so every birthday and Christmas he would dig through pictures of social events the Blacks attended and have him make knock offs."

"That's very sweet," he commented.

She nodded. "Lucky I got my taste in men from her." She straightened the collar of his robes. "You do look very handsome."

He snorted, running a hand through his hair. His condition had done its bit to age him but the year in Azkaban had done worse. Far from sandy blond his hair was now almost completely grey and the wrinkles on his face were now deep crevices. It had improved some in the months since he'd stopped returning. The sparkle in his eye and lightness in his step took at least ten years off, in her opinion. She hadn't realized how old he looked until it started to fade away.

She shushed him, and he saw grey creep into her dark curls. He shook his head at her as he pulled one around for her inspection. She pouted. "I sensed the 'too old' speech coming on. I can always change how old I look."

"I prefer the way you normally look."

"After I convince all these stuck up buggers to repeal the law you can have your wife back, pink hair and all." Her hair returned to its black state.

"Can't wait," he grinned. "Come see your son."

Teddy was in the living room banging a plastic wand against one of George's trick hats, giggling as a white rabbit stuck its head out and sniffed at him, then disappeared back into the satin lining.

"My goodness, don't you look handsome," she said, lifting him into her arms and straightening his dress robes.

"Mummy!" he objected, grabbing the neck of her robe and jerking it so it gaped in the front as he tried to dive out of her arms to get back to his toy. Well accustomed to his mother's changing features he'd learned to key in to her voice and the moment she spoke no amount of shape shifting would confuse him.

Remus pulled their cloaks from the hall closet and closed the clasp around his wife's throat, kissing her cheek. "Shall we put on Teddy's?"

She shook her head as Remus applied his own. "It's warm enough he doesn't need it."

He played with the clasp under his mother's throat. "Why you wear one then?"

"To show off how pretty it is," she answered. "Ready to go see Grandmummy?"

"Gama!" he cried happily.

She laughed as Remus came and put his arms around her and she pushed them into the receiving area of the fine ballroom the Ministry had rented out for the occasion.

"Gama!" Teddy cried the moment he spotted Andromeda. They couple met her and she eagerly held out her arms to her grandson.

"Teddy, dear!" she said as he cuddled him to her chest. "We haven't spent nearly enough time together lately. Perhaps I should give you two a day or two off."

"And to think she used to complain about babysitting," her daughter remarked.

"I never," she objected. "And look how handsome he is. If only we could do something about that hair," she sighed, only half joking as she looked forlornly at Teddy's bright green curls.

Teddy glanced between his mother and grandmother, scrunched up his nose, and black curling locks erupted from his head.

"Well, that's..."

"Disconcerting," Tonks finished for her.

"As long as he doesn't try to copy my hair I'm happy," Remus laughed. "Ah, here's our favorite trio."

He waved over the women's heads and the turned to see Harry, Ron, and Hermoine pushing through the thong, Ginny in stunning robes not far behind.

"Hello!" Harry greeted enthusiastically.

"Hermione, you look absolutely breathtaking," Dora said, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "Doesn't she Ron?"

"I already said she does!" Ron objected as the girls chuckled.

"Tonks, you look...different."

"Creepy," Ron added.

"Ronald!" Hermoine cried.

"What? She does!" he objected.

"That's the idea," she said. "They've seen my mad aunt staring down at them from the wanted posters long enough to develop a healthy fear. Maybe I can frighten these Wizigits into doing the right thing."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Is that REALLY how you want to get the laws changed?"

"Long as they change I don't care."

"Ever the politician," Remus chuckled. "Shall we get to it then? The sooner we're done the sooner we can leave."

They entered the grand doors, Harry trying unsuccessfully to get Andromeda to give up Teddy for a moment.

"Okay Hermione," she said, pulling her close. "Who voted for the bloody thing?"

"Hm," she said, craning around the crowd. "Let's schmooze, see if we can find some of them."

"We'll wait here," Remus eagerly volunteered.

"Coward," she whispered, letting Hermione pull her into the crowd.

"Oh, there's one," she said. "Pesthert Davies. I'm not sure it's worth trying though. He's dead against any rights for non-wizards. Or cross species," she added quickly.

"Acid test then," she said. "Thank you Hermione."

"Want me to come?"

"Let me give it a try on my own. I'll signal if I need you."

The girl looked relieved as she nodded and faded gratefully into the crowd.

Tonks approached the group of ancient wizards, sidling up beside the man Hermione had indicated. She waited for a lull in the conversation before turning to offer him her hand. "Mr. Davies?"

"Yes my..." He cut off when he turned to look at her, swallowing hard. Her pleasant smile seemed to give him strength and he managed to finish, "...my dear."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Auror Lupin."

He nodded faintly. "Forgive me an old man's mind, the name sounds familiar but I'm afraid it's escaping me."

"Oh, I'm a friend of Harry Potter's. Order of the Phoenix and all that. Remus, my husband, he's a werewolf." The man paled and she motioned toward the group. "That's him there, with our little boy." The man took in Andromeda and Harry as well. "It's been a year since the legislation passed that imprisoned him. We're working to get it back on the schedule. It's high time a permanent decision was made, and I'm sure you don't want to see innocent people imprisoned. I know it drove me nearly MAD, taking him back to that place every day. I very nearly lost him to it. Now, he's the sweetest gentlest man you could ever hope to meet. He wouldn't be the least bit happy if he knew I was talking about this. But you know, it is hard on the family. It made me fair desperate. If you can imagine the damage a desperate Auror could inflict." She laughed rather a bit too loudly, getting looks from those around her. Davies didn't seem inclined to join in. "I've managed to scale back my work, so I can keep him at home with me. But thinking about all those other families that don't have to option, it's very difficult."

"Yes, of course," he hurried to assure her the moment she paused long enough for him to get a word in. "It's just, it is a difficult time now. It wouldn't' do to appear soft on werewolves."

"Well a year ago with the whole Greyback mess I could see that, but people have rather calmed down. And if it came to that Rita Skeeter and my dear friends go WAY back. I could nearly guarantee the Prophet won't print it. In fact I may be able to talk her into a rousing feature on the fight to give innocent people their freedom and all that." She waved a hand. "At any rate, we can count on your vote then?"

"I...will certainly give it due consideration."

She nodded. "Very good. Well I hope to talk to you again very soon. I'll be keeping an eye on you Mr. Davies." Inclining her head she turned on her heal and strode away.

Hermione appeared at her side. "How did go?"

"Well I'm pretty sure he's scared." She glanced behind her. "At any rate, this is way too much fun."

It was over an hour before she rejoined the group. Ginny was supporting Teddy on her hip as he tugged at her earring, eyes heavy and fingers sticky.

Remus immediately put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "How's it going?"

"Well. I'm pretty sure I scared the pants off a whole bunch of very old and talented wizards."

"Lovely," her mother said sarcastically.

She ignored her. "I think we've gotten most of the people that voted against it in the first place. I just want to check in with those that voted for it. Make sure nothing's changed and see if they can help us get the legislation back on the table. Hermione's going to help with that."

"How long do you think it will be?"

She shrugged. "Another hour? There aren't as many of them but we have to do more schmoozing and chit chatting. Are you tired?"

"I'm more worried about Teddy."

She glanced at the boy. "He can sleep on your shoulder if he needs to can't he?"

"Of course." He kissed her forehead. "Andromeda could always take him if he got too fussy. Or Harry and Ginny may be willing to take him back to the flat."

She grinned up at him. "Thank you Daddy."

"You're welcome Mummy."

She was about to plunge once more into the crowd when Kingsley stepped onto a makeshift stage. A general round of applause broke out and Tonks couldn't resist putting her fingers in her mouth and letting out a shrill whistle.

He gave her a knowing look and held his wand to his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming tonight. It's a great relief for me to see so many of our Ministry members mixing after the year we've had. I want to thank each and every one of you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for all of the hard work you've put in. And I want to extend that thanks to their loved ones. We know you sacrifice time with them for the good of wizard kind and that deserves our thanks as well." He paused once again for applause. "One more order of business then. Although it is not awarded until April it is traditional for me to announce who will be receiving the Order of Merlin award. Of course last year I had the unprecedented pleasure of awarding three very deserving heroes with the award. There was no doubt that Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Granger, who I am pleased to announce now all are in the employ of the Ministry, deserved it. And of course there are countless more that fought in one of the greatest wars England has ever seen."

While Kingsley went on about the honor Remus bent down and whispered in his wife's ear, "Who is it?"

"I dunno. I'm sure Harry does." She leaned around her mother to hiss at him. When he looked up she mouthed 'Who is it?' to him. He shrugged. "Kingsley didn't talk to you?" He shook his head.

Tonks straightened. "Huh. Mystery I guess."

"You won't have to wait long," he assured her as Kingsley grinned down at them.

"I'm pleased to announce this year's recipient will be Mr. Remus Lupin."

His wife spun to look at him. His eyes got big and his back went ramrod straight as heads turned the direction Kingsley was indicating and applause sprung up around them.

Kingsley smiled as Remus shook his head in disbelief. Dora squealed, hair suddenly bright pink as she jumped to wrap her arms around her husband. "You can tell when Auror Lupin is excited. She always turns pink." She turned to stick her tongue out at him. "You may not know this, but Lupin is a member of the original Order of the Phoenix. One of the few still with us. He was James Potter's close friend in Hogwarts and the only remaining member of their group. In the current Order he was the first one to jump at the most dangerous jobs. I can't think of anyone more deserving of the honor." He paused and waited for the applause to calm down again before he cleared his throat. "I would add that he is a werewolf and will in fact be the first one to receive this honor. For the gathered members of the Wizengamit, I would remind you that were it not for the exception that allows him out under the supervision of his wife he would have been in Azkaban for the last year and would still be there today. You might also consider that as the law stands, he will be walking across the stage to accept the highest honor a wizard can receive without being allowed to carry a wand. I've been pushing to get the legislation reevaluated and this may be a good time to do just that.

"But that is a discussion for another day." He raised his arms and the music started again. "Tonight we celebrate. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the rest of your evening."

He stepped off of the stage and the crowd went back to what they were doing while their group closed in around them. "Well done Professor," Hermione said with a grin. Despite his many corrections she refused to stop calling him that.

"He's right," Harry said. "No one deserves it more."

"And that sly dog just gave them a deadline," Dora said with a grin. "My husband the hero."

"You really didn't know about this?" he asked the group. All around him people shook their heads. He looked down at his wife. "You deserve this at least as much as me."

"I wasn't in the Order the first time around."

"That's because you were five."

"I still haven't risked my life as much as you." She cuddled into his chest. "McGonagall will probably owl with a teaching job for you when it gets out. Parents will be tripping over each other to have their kid taught by someone with the Order of Merlin. Especially Dark Arts."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Remus said. "He'll start getting owls by the boatload when word gets out he wants to give the award to a werewolf. They'll vote it down."

"They can't," Harry said. "It's been announced. The whole Ministry just heard it."

"How...how did he get them to vote for me?" he asked.

"I'd say your record speaks for itself," his wife said, kissing his cheek and reaching for her son. "Teddy, your daddy's a hero!" She cuddled him close.

Teddy beamed up at Remus, and the group chuckled as you could see his heart melt and turned away.

"Remus." They turned to find Kingsley standing there. "I assume you'll accept?"

"Do I get a choice?"

"Traditionally I'm supposed to ask first. But I was afraid you would say no." Tonks chortled. He drew close and lowered his voice. "You're not the only one this will help."

"I know. I'm honored. I don't know how you did it but thank you."

"I'm glad I was able. I mean it Remus. I'm not doing this just because of the timing. You deserve it."

He blinked at him. "James and Sirius sacrificed more."

"And their turn may come. But you would have given your life if you were called on. I saw you risk it often enough."