Note: And for once we have a change of perspective! Because let's face it, you can't have super angst and mega fluff as seen through the eyes of a eavesdropping child! I hope you all like this chapter...I am not all that amazing at romance, so I'm not entirely sure this has turned out as I would have liked. So PLEASE let me know if you like this chapter! And if anything turns out particularly nice and fluffy, point it out! This is all to help me in any future fluffy endeavors!

Thank you to my reviewers. I hope this makes up for just how evil I am...though saying that I will not apologize for my love of cliffhangers! =)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.

14: Definitions of Right and Wrong

Teddy felt his chest constricting and he stepped over the threshold, heart hammering in his ears.

"What...what's going on, Dad?" he asked, voice much higher than usual as he stumbled over his words. "Is...is it Mum? Is...is she okay....?"

"Listen carefully, Teddy." Remus repeated, still not moving a muscle. "I need you to do exactly as I say. It is very important."

"But..."

"Do you understand?"

"I...yes..."

"Good. Now I want you to go back outside to Maggie, and I want you to close the door behind you. And I don't care what you hear, or see, or what you might want to do, you stay right there and you do not come back inside. Okay?"

"But..."

"Okay?"

"Is Mum okay?"

"Everything is going to be fine. Now go on, go outside."

Teddy slowly backed out of the doorway and slowly pulled the door shut behind him. After a moment the curtains in the right hand window were pulled firmly closed.

And he waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Back inside, Remus turned away from the window and resumed his staring at the figure that lay curled up upon the floor in front of the fireplace. He drew a steadying breath and crept forward until there were precious few meters between them.

From where he stood he could not see her face, though her drab, mousey hair and shuddering shoulders were enough to tell him that she was in a bad way, in some form or another.

At least she's breathing, the reasonable voice in the back of his head said.

But Merlin...the sight of her...

He swallowed hard before dropping to his knees.

"Dora...?" he whispered, reaching to lay a tentative hand upon her shoulder, only to jump at the sound of the strangled little gasp that escaped the heap of robes.

"Don't!" Tonks whimpered, voice little more than a squeak. "Just...don't."

He quickly withdrew his hand, and promptly wished he hadn't for she immediately burst into tears. It was an odd feeling, a mixture of despair at her tears and relief that she could even shed them.

"Are you hurt?" he tried, leaning a little closer in a vain attempt to get a look at her, but her face was completely obscured by her arms. When she did not respond, he tried again: "Where's Tom?"

This only seemed to make her sob harder still.

"G...go....go home, Remus. Just...just....go home. You shouldn't even...even be here..."

"I know I shouldn't," he agreed, clasping his hands together in an effort to stop himself reaching for her again. "But whether you like it or not I am here. And I'm not going to just leave you like this."

She mumbled something that sounded distinctly like what do you care? It stung.

"I care a great deal." he insisted, "So...don't you think you ought sit up? You can't be comfy, lying like that." He forced himself to sound casual, as if suggesting she might like a pillow to lean on whilst listening to the WWN, fighting back the urge to scoop her up in his arms and help her up himself.

"I...don't want to." came the whispered reply.

"Why not?" he asked calmly, attempting to ignore the urge to start thinking of all the worst, most alarming, most dire reasons she might present him with.

"My head hurts." she said simply.

"And...why does your head hurt, Dora?" He fidgeted a little, patience beginning to wane. What had happened? What in Merlin's name was wrong with her? Why was the hallway in such a mess? Where was Tom?

"I fell over."

He waited for her to elaborate, but she did not grace him with further details.

"Where's Tom?" he tried again, and she sniffed, shifting her legs closer to her chest.

"Gone." she whispered, and the sobbing that had been slowly subsiding instantly returned with vengeance, causing her whole body to tremble in despair. "Oh Remus...he's....gone!"

Remus' eyes drifted closed as he digested this fact, along with her complete despair of it, and attempted to form some sort of plan.

She might be badly hurt, her head hurt, Merlin knew what else hurt too and she shouldn't just lie there, he should move her, protests or not...

And yet, for some reason that he could not quite fathom, as if his mind had somehow become disconnected from his body for a moment, Remus did not attempt to move her.

Instead he silently lowered himself to the floor beside her and, after a brief hesitation, reached to put his arm around her, He waited for his common sense to kick in and tell him that the action was deeply wrong, or for her to act surprised and make him leap away from her in embarrassment. But nothing happened.

In fact he could swear that she was in fact leaning back against him, sobs slowly beginning to subside. Once he had decided that his recklessness seemed somehow acceptable, he asked:

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"We had a row." Tonks told him hoarsely, at last removing her face from it's hiding place in her arms, head coming to lean against his chest. Remus vaguely wondered why the movement felt so right, when it was obviously just wrong. This was all wrong. He should have stuck to the plan, sat her in a chair and talked about this. That would have been right, like two people in the middle of a divorce. Not like this. This was...two people lying curled up together on the floor...and surely people who were getting divorced weren't supposed to act like that?

Bugger...

"What did you row about?" he asked, frantically trying to think of what he was supposed to do next.

He was distracted from this train of thought when she said:

"About you."

Again...bugger...

And since when had bugger become part of his every day vocabulary, subconscious or not? It was like having Maggie stuck inside his head...Merlin, what a thought...

This isn't helping, he told himself firmly. You've gotten yourself into an awkward situation here and you better either sort it out or make the most of it, because Teddy is outside wondering what in Merlin's name is going on and quite frankly you still don't know what's happened yourself...

"Oh?" he mumbled, as he hurriedly formed a new plan in his head. One that didn't involve detaching himself from the woman beside him like he probably ought do, because for once he didn't want to be quite that sensible. He couldn't bear to, anyway, the sight of her when he had reached the doorway appeared to have done something sickening to his insides, and her closeness seemed to dull the sensation until he could think almost clearly. As she began to tell him what had happened he concentrated very hard on slowly moving his fingers across the surface of her arm, attempting to be discreet, or as discreet as one can be in such a position, searching for any sign of injury.

"I wrote a note to Teddy," Tonks began, reaching to wipe her eyes upon her sleeve. "Like every other morning whilst Tom was in the bathroom. I was just going to go down and send it when he came out. He...he wanted to know what I'd been writing, so I told him it was just another note to Teddy. Tom...didn't quite believe me, he kept asking questions, like was it just for Teddy or was I writing to you, too? He'd said the same thing every morning, it was starting to get on my nerves and I told him so. He got pissed off...we stood up on the landing and rowed for ages...I...I'm not sure exactly how long...but I couldn't stand it after a while, he was being so utterly unreasonable. So...so I decided to leave..." she trailed off into silence, then, as if this was somehow an acceptable end to the story.

"Then what happened?" Remus asked, and it did not escape his notice that she took a long time to reply.

"I went to leave..." she whispered eventually. "He told me to wait and grabbed hold of my arm...and I tripped. Down the stairs."

The sick feeling in his stomach suddenly seemed to swell and Remus became acutely aware of something constricting in his chest. His grip upon her instinctively tightened.

Careful, the sensible voice inside his head warned as she gave a tiny start at his sudden hold.

Remus silently told the voice to go jump off the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower. To hell with right and wrong! Besides, this didn't feel wrong, not wrong at all.

I'll tell you what's wrong, he thought to himself as Tonks' head dipped a little self-consciously at his reaction. Watching your girlfriend tumble down a flight of stairs and then seemingly disappearing off somewhere, leaving her to drag herself into a dark room and stay there for Merlin knew how long, more than a little battered and completely and utterly alone. That was wrong.

"Guess I passed out when I hit the bottom..." she mumbled with a heavy sigh. "He was gone when I came to again. Must've...must've just freaked out and legged it...or...or something. That was...a few hours ago....I guess..." The tears appeared to be seeping from her eyes again as she admitted: "I know I should have...have just gotten up....but...but I just...I don't know..." She let out a sharp hiss of pain as he reached to press his fingers gently to the back of her head, grazing a large bump hidden beneath damp hair.

As he withdrew his hand to find damp crimson upon his fingertips, Remus told her:

"I think you need to sit up, Dora. Take the pressure off your head..."

"What's the point?" she muttered bitterly. "What does anyone care? Merlin...I thought...I truly thought he gave a damn..." she gave a somewhat strangled chuckle as she said: "Should have seen it coming though, shouldn't I? Give you all a month or so and you all run a bloody mile..." She halted abruptly, the smallest of shivers shooting down her spine as she felt his lips press gently against the back of her head for the briefest of moments.

"Please." he said softly, breath warm upon the back of her neck. "You'll feel better for it."

Tonks considered this proposal for a long moment before slowly rolling over until she was facing him, mere milometers between them.

"I'll get up," she told him slowly, shyly even. "If you tell me that wasn't a mistake. Tell me, Remus, that you meant to kiss me just then."

As he stared into her red, puffy eyes, still shining from fresh tears, Remus knew that there was only one possible answer. As a rule, he always tried to mean everything that he did and said in life. He'd meant it when he'd told her all those years ago that he loved her. He'd meant it when he'd said he wanted to marry her, too. He'd even meant it when he'd written and told her that she was better off without him.

But just because he'd meant it, didn't mean it was true.

Because if he'd never left her there would not have been so much pain, there would not have been a constant battle to get up each morning, or see the point of life.

And there would not have been Dora lying crumbled at the bottom of a staircase, either.

It could all be stopped, all be over and mended, he could see that it could. It only required him to tell her one more time exactly what he meant.

Remus drew a deep breath and as he did he felt her body tense ever so slightly in apprehension.

"I meant it." he breathed, relieved the moment he had said it. "Merlin, did I mean it."

She let out a deep sigh of relief, staring at him intently.

"Would you mean it again?" she wondered, and at last she gave the smallest of smiles as he slowly leant forward, lips gently pressing against her own.