The more he stared, the more interesting the ceiling became to him. He could see faces in the textures, trace patterns in them because he wouldn't let his mind wander to more serious things. He had tried reading, but found himself skipping over the words and thinking of her face, he had tried drinking but found himself thrown even deeper downwards into a bad spiral, and, as a result, he sat here every day after his patrols and studied his ceiling. Today he had managed to make the askew paint lines into six different members of the Parliament.
He had not spoken to or heard form Tonks in days. He had seen her at Grimmauld place, when meeting up with Dawlish for night watch at Diagon Alley, but she had turned away shoved out the door and apparated away before he had the chance to even acknowledge her. Sirius refused to talk about it; he was barely on speaking terms at all with his oldest friends, so Remus distracted himself by focusing on the newspapers and his ceiling tiles.
Six more killed in France, muggles and "lesser" wizards. To the Order, the clear work of Death Eaters, to the ministry "Accidents Unrelated to the Dark Lord/Harry Potter". Several order members had been deployed by Dumbledore to watch for more signs of Death Eaters in and around France, but so far the rest of them had heard nothing.
Things carried on as normal, Mrs. Weasley inviting them all for food that they would have liked to eat but never had time to, Sirius drinking more Firewhiskey than he should have had money for, and Harry isolated from everyone. Remus was on watch every other night, only a few nights a month in a row with nothing, but his sleep could measured in minutes rather than in hours. Tomorrow, he had patrol in the Department of Mysteries.
A loud thumping made Remus shoot straight up in his bed, his still injured head throbbing at the action. He grabbed his wand from the unkempt bed and ran swiftly but silently to the downstairs. He went to the door, casting a charm that let him see through his cheap metal door.
He swung the door open to a disheveled Nymphadora, reaching to bang on the door again. "Tonks?"
"Remus!" Her voice was desperate, so pleading that it wiped away all his discomfort.
"What the hell happened?" He said, trying to help her in, but she wouldn't go.
"I had to come and get you." She let out a long breath. "Harry took his group of Friends to the Ministry of Magic."
"And?" Remus had a deep sense of dread well up in the back of his mind; he knew something was going on before she finished speaking. He understood.
"Death Eaters. Voldemort!" She was practically yelling and Remus thanked god that his neighbors were sleeping soundly. "We have to go, without us; they're going to get killed!"
"I'm coming." He grabbed onto her arm so they could apparated, and she only hesitated for a moment at his touch, meeting his gaze and glancing away before Remus felt the tug and cavernous room of the Department of mysteries started to materialize in front of him.
(A/N) Hello, its good to be back. Sorry for that ridiculously long wait I made you sit through! New chapter coming soon! :D