EDIT 12/24/17: This is still one of my favorite chapters I've ever written from this story. I really enjoyed delving into their characters with this.

"Remus are you sure you want to come with us? In your state?"

He looked at her dubiously. "Yes. Don't worry, I feel fine." he contradicted this statement by a bout of coughing. Tonks sighed, knowing that his stubborn Gryffindor side was emerging.

"Okay... Just say the word and we'll get the heck out of there." she replied.

He sat at the edge of their bed smiling lightly as she fiddled aimlessly with his tie. She swore quite colorfully when she managed to undo it. She re-tied it, and he chuckled. "Just... gosh darn it, Remus!" she cried finally, as they both dissolved into laughter. She slapped him in the arm halfheartedly.

"One moment I'm mad at you for being a stubborn git, and the next you manage to get me laughing. I wonder how you do it sometimes."

He kissed her lightly. "I have no clue what you're talking about." he said innocently.

"Tonks, Remus! Harry's here!" Andromeda called from downstairs.

Tonks looked at her husband, who sobered up immediately. "Be careful okay?" she asked him.

"I will." he said seriously. She handed him his cane and a sweater and they were off. Remus nearly fell down the stairs, because he was trying to put on his sweater at the same time. This caused another bout of laughter from the couple and a fond smile from Andromeda. Harry saluted them as they walked outside.

"You ready?" he asked, more so to Remus than Tonks, who had made this journey hundreds of times before. Remus straightened a little and nodded. Tonks set her jaw and gave the hand that didn't have a firm hold on his cane a squeeze. They disapparated, and appeared at the docks, a boat ready and waiting for them.

The black murky water was still apart from the small wake from the boat. The only light was wandlight and the soft glow of the two wolves and a stag standing sentinel at the prow.

Remus shivered involuntarily. Normally he would be barely affected by the dementors, but his weakened condition because of the recent moon. He closed his eyes and tightened his hold on his cane as he fought off the horrible memories.

"Remus?" Tonks asked quietly. But Harry shushed her. Remus was standing stiffly in front of them, his hand clenched tight on his cane. He took a deep shuddering breath, then exhaled.

"I'm fine." he murmured, strengthening his patronus. "Just fine."

The rest of the boat ride passed in silence. When they arrived, they were greeted by Kingsley and another Auror who introduced himself as Prescott. (Remus remembered with a chuckle that this was the Auror that Ron had caught fire to. Tonks seemed to be remembering the same thing, and she snorted when she caught her husband's eye.)

"Alright there, Remus?" the Minister called to them.

Lupin smiled wryly. "Why does nobody seem to have confidence in me this morning?" he murmured to Tonks and Harry. When they chuckled, he called back to Kingsley. "Yeah, I'm doing well!" Kingsley gave him a pat on the back.

"Well, lets hope we can find the source of your suffering, right?"

They nodded, and picked their way up the barely visible path to the fortress. The dementors let them in grudgingly. and the heavy stone doors shut behind them. Tonks led the way, her wolf bounding ahead, and her wand alight. The prisoners snarled at them, or just looked up with blank looks. Remus got quite a few insults and yells of 'you bastard!' when he passed. The source of those cries were mainly imprisoned werewolves.

Many of the death eaters recognized Harry as well, but he handled himself rather well. Remus was fine with them yelling about him, but when someone yelled at Tonks, he snapped.

With a feral growl he spun towards the source of the yell. His feet carried him to a cell, with a smirking prisoner was leaning out of the bars. Before Remus was even half aware of what he was doing, his fist had connected with the side of the prisoners face. With a grunt, the man fell backwards into his cell. He looked up, a hand pressed against his cheek, the smirk still there.

"Is my alpha going to discipline me?" the newly-revealed-werewolf spat. He said the word with such venom, it took all the self control Remus had not to stagger backwards. "Is that what's going to happen? Well, fine, do it. Prove you can actually do better than this."

A look of positive disgust came over Remus' face. "You're pathetic." he said. "I don't have time to waste on you and your ego." he slammed his cane on the bars of the cell, just to make the werewolf inside flinch, and turned away. He walked, deep in thought, past the others and they continued on their way. When they were out of earshot of the other werewolf, Tonks caught up to her husband.

She put her hand up on his shoulder. "Hey, you alright there?"

His head snapped over to look at her, and though his expression was soft, his eyes betrayed him. They showed so much hate and rage, that Dora flinched. When he saw that, his realized what happened and closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I would tell you that I didn't need protecting, but you would probably find some stupid noble reason to counter that, so I'm not going to try. I'll just say thanks instead. Also, you handled the whole alpha thing rather well, except for the part where you decided to let it haunt you for the rest of your days."

"How? What-"

"Makes me think that that's what you're going to do? Because I know you, and Remus Lupin is a rather selfless person, who hasn't yet learned how to let things go. I wish you would let me in. I wish I could share some of your troubles, but you don't let me. Remus, I am your wife. If we haven't learned how to share things with each other, we are a rather dysfunctional couple."

He sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"Aren't I always?" she joked, and the corners of his mouth upturned ever so slightly.

"It just caught me off guard, it hadn't really hit me that I defeated Greyback and this way, I was technically their alpha. Even though some rejected it, they all knew it. When I defeated Bone, it only made matters worse." he sighed. "It's strange that you can read me so easily."

"Well, I am your wife for a reason, and I have known you since that time Sirius brought you over to see me, Mum, and Dad."

Remus looked confused for a moment, then he remembered that time and burst out laughing. "I remember... that! Wasn't that the time... you accidentally made all your... food fly into Sirius' hair?! That was amazing!" he choked out between laughs. She nodded, laughing almost as much as Remus.

Kingsley looked on with Harry, and murmured, "Do I want to know?"

"Yes!" Remus cried, and began recounting the tale to Kingsley and Harry. Neither found it as hysterical as the Lupins, because it was only the images that Remus remembered that made the situation funny.

"Harry, I'll show you in the pensive later. I promise you'll find it rather funny."

They arrived at the cell-block of the escape. There was a hole in the wall. Remus smiled wryly. "I assume that this was be made by magic."

"Well, you're our residing Dark Arts Expert." Kingsley said. Insert Harry's cry of outrage here. "No offense, Harry."

"May I?" Remus asked, entering the cell. He ran his cane over the sides of the hole. "These lines are too exact for them to have been made without magic." he looked at Kingsley. "Permission to damage the wall further?" he asked, pointing at part of the remaining wall. Kingsley nodded.

Before anyone knew what he was going to do, he balled his fist up and punched the wall. The wall didn't break, but it cracked and some stone dust clattered at his feet.

"Remus!" Tonks cried out in alarm.

He held up his hand, and indicated he was fine. "Moon-enhanced strength. I could do this all day. However, this proves that Bone on his own, wouldn't have been able to get through the wall without the guards noticing."

"But would he even have enough strength to do that? What with the whole dementor thing," Harry asked.

"Good question." Remus acknowledged. "But, I have a suspicion that the dementors are no longer working for the Ministry."

"What?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure the dementors would willingly work for the side they wanted to stop in the war..." he said, raising an eyebrow.

"True."

Kingsley looked pensive. "I've been wanting to get these foul things out of here for a while, but the problem is, it's much easier to bribe a guard than a dementor."

Remus acknowledged that. "Yes. But that may be our only solution if you don't want a mass prison break."

Kingsley nodded. "Very well."

Remus turned back to the wall. "Now, with a well placed blasting charm... Expulso!" The wall exploded outward, at unnatural angles. They were very exact, and formed a perfect square.

"So this proves it could only be caused by magic." Harry concluded. "I see. I'll have forensics come over this place." he winced. "They won't be happy about that." Granted, they won't like it, but these steps need to be taken."

"Thanks for coming, Remus." Kingsley said. "I know it's not that great of a time, all things considered, but you're a big help here."

Remus nodded, "let's get out of here." Tonks took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Lets," she agreed. They marched out, Tonks throwing a glare at the werewolf who had yelled at her before. He just grinned, but when Remus growled at him, the grin faltered a bit.

When the Lupins arrived back home, Remus collapsed on the couch, and took deep breaths, head in his hands. Tonks sat down next to him and rubbed his back in soothing circles. "You alright there?"

Her husband sat up and looked at her. He nodded, but she could tell that he wasn't really. "Yeah..."

"No you're not."

He sighed. "Sorry, the dementors don't usually get to me this badly."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, normally you're not half dead."

He grinned. "Who you calling half-dead? I'm perfectly well thank you very much." he mimed being a zombie. "Unless you would prefer me like that..."

She laughed and kissed him. "No, not really."

"Well it's settled then. Unless I have to make you write lines so that it gets into your head? I will not call my husband half dead, even after a moon. Say... 100 times?"

"Noo! Professor! The injustice!" Tonks cried, then mimed fainting, and fell back. She came up laughing, which set him off. They didn't stop for a long time.

Laughter truly was the best medicine.