A/N: Now you don't think I'd just forget about Tonks, did you? No way! She's my second favorite character next to Ginny :-) So yes, Tonks will return in this chapter, though I'll warn you it may not be very happy. Also, I'm thinking about drawing this fic to a close soon, maybe next chapter, it all depends. Please let me know if you're unhappy with this, and I'll try my best to do something about it. Anyway, here it is! (please forgive any misspellings of the curses, I'm too lazy to look them up :D )

WARNING: This chapter contains a bit of sadness so if your very sensitive I'd have a box of tissues close at hand!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Tonks whistled happily as she tended to the Narmolingwes. They were being kept in a large paddock near Hagrid's hut. Just one more month of teaching, then she could go home to Remus. She smiled as she thought of her husband. Even though he was thirteen years older than her, Tonks loved Remus more than anything. Maybe, just maybe, after the war was over they could start a family. She led the Narmolingwe pup back to its mother, who was the size of a horse, sighed, and looked up at the sky.

"Will this war ever end?" she wondered aloud. A twig snapped nearby, causing Tonks to whirl around in alarm. "Who's there?" she questioned bravely, her hand slowly reaching down for her wand. A tall boy with blonde hair stepped out from the woods, his pale face looking almost skeletal in the moonlight.

"Good evening, my dearest cousin," Draco Malfoy said in a cold voice, a smirk playing at his lips. Tonks glared dangerously at her cousin.

"You shouldn't be out here in times like these, Draco," she bit out in tones of cold sarcasm, her wand at the ready, "after all, you certainly wouldn't want to be put under the Imperius curse again now, would you?" Now it was Malfoy's turn to glare.

"A filthy Mudblood like yourself has no right to speak to me in such tones."

"Well you certainly aren't worth the effort of respectful words."

"Indeed? My whole family deserves respect from filth like yourself."

"We do, huh? Well here's what I think of your family!" And with that she spat on the ground at Malfoy's feet. That had definetely hit a nerve. Malfoy raised his wand in fury.

"Crucio!" he yelled. Tonks fell to the ground, screaming in pure agony. After a few minutes, Malfoy lifted the curse. "I had forgotton how fun it was to torture those of impudence. Maybe we should try again?" Tonks looked weakly up at Malfoy and saw the mad glint in his cold grey eyes. Before he could lift his wand again, Tonks grabbed hers.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted. Malfoy was blown backwards and slammed into a tree by the impact of the blast.

"You little bitch!" He shot a spell at Tonks, but she dodged.

"Stupefy!" The spell slashed Malfoy in the arm, causing him to cry out in pain and anger.

"Stupefy!" Tonks was also slashed, this time in the side. The two continued to shoot spells back and forth, until both were bloody and weak.

"I'll never give up," Tonks panted, "you're bastards! The whole lot of you!"

"Petrificus Totalus!" By a stroke of misfortune, she didn't have the strength to dodge, and her body immediately went rigid. Malfoy grinned in triumph, then made his way over to his cousin. "You see? There's no way you all are gonna win against us. Evil will always triumph!" He pointed his wand at Tonks' mouth and it was able to move again. Then he took a small phial out of his pocket, opened it, and poured a few drops into her mouth. It went down the throat, despite Tonks' attempts to resist it. "Now, what is your name?"

"Nymphadora Lupin," she answered in a monotonous voice.

"Who is your husband?"

"Remus John Lupin." Malfoy grinned. The Veritaserum was working.

"Tell me, is there any way for Dark wizards to enter Hogwarts unnoticed?" Tonks was silent. "Answer me!"

"I do not know," she said finally.

"Are there any secret ways to get into Hogwarts then?" Another pause. Then-

"Yes."

"Tell me!"

"There's...a passageway...from the cellar of Honeydukes into Hogwarts itself. I think...I think it's still there."

"Would Dark wizards be able to use it to get into Hogwarts?"

"Yes, possibly."

"Then why the hell would they lead it open?"

"So that those of us who need to travel back and forth can use it." That was what he needed. He had found a way into Hogwarts at last. Smirking, he stood up and pointed his wand at Tonks.

"I have what I came for now, so there's really no reason to let you live. After all, you'd just go and spill it that I'm still working for the Dark Lord." He stood there with his wand pointed at her. Well, what am I waiting for? Why can't I just kill her? he asked himself furiously. Malfoy looked up the immobilized girl lying upon the ground, her pale hair looking very ghost like in the moonlight. Then came the flashbacks. Flashbacks from so long ago.

"Mummy! Mummy look what I found!" exclaimed a five-year-old Draco, rushing up to his mother in the garden behind their mansion. He was holding up a baby bunny that he had found all alone in an abandoned rabbits' nest. "Can I keep it, mum? Can I? Can I?"

"Oh Draco, how many times must mummy tell you? You must leave wild animals be!" his mother sighed.

"But-but if I left it there it would've died!" Draco said. Narcissa gave her son a sad smile and took the baby rabbit from him.

"Draco, dying is inevitable, meaning it is bound to happen any day. We may not like it, but it has to happen. Imagine what the world would be like if nothing died. What do you think it would look like?" Draco thought for a while.

"Wouldn't everybody be happy?" Narcissa shook her head.

"No they wouldn't, Draco. The world would be so crowded that no one would be able to move. That is why we must accept death when it comes for us." The woman looked at the sadness in her son's eyes and sighed. "Go find a box." Draco looked up questioningly at his mother. She smiled down at him. "Well, the poor creature will need some place to sleep during his stay here."

Draco looked back on this memory fondly. Had there really been a time when he had been so kind and caring? And his mother, she cared about him so much. What had happened? Why had he turned out like this? Then, he remembered why. His father.

"Draco, bring that creature in here now," demanded Lucius Malfoy. Draco came in, holding his precious pet in his arms. It had been about two months since he took in the baby rabbit and it had grown considerably.

"Daddy, look at how big Bubbles is getting!" he said happily. His father merely scowled.

"Today, Draco, I am going to teach you something very important," Lucius said to his son. The man lifted up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a tattoo of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth. Then he explained to Draco all about the Death Eaters. "Some day, my son, you will become one too, and together with me we will cleanse the world of its filth. Now, give me that wretched creature!" He yanked the rabbit from Draco's caring arms and held it by the scruff.

"Daddy! Daddy what're you gonna do with Bubbles?" Draco asked anxiously. Lucius smiled coldly at his son.

"Lesson one: the killing curse."

"NO! DADDY PLEASE NO!" Draco screamed in protest, but all was in vain.

Lucius pointed his wand at the struggling creature and shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Draco's screams filled the air as his pet was dropped to the ground, dead. He too dropped to the floor, sobbing.

"You need to learn to get over it Draco. It was only a rabbit. Control yourself!" Lucius commanded. Draco looked up at his father, his eyes brimming with tears and hatred.

"WHY D-DADDY? WHY? HE D-D-DIDN'T DO ANYTHING T-TO YOU! YOU K-KILLED H-HIM! HE-HE WAS S-SO HELPLESS!" Lucius smacked Draco across the face.

"Enough! Death Eaters do not mourn the fallen. Dry your eyes and get out of my sight. And be sure to dispose of that wretched creature too." Malfoy senior turned his back on his sobbing son and walked out of the room. Draco looked through his tears at the limp body of his pet...no his friend. Bubbles had been his first and only friend. And now, he was gone, just like that. He took the dead animal in his arms and cradled it, tears falling from his face onto its cold furry body.

"I couldn't save you this time, Bubbles. I saved you before, but now...now you're gone!" He broke into more sobs and clutched the body tighter. It was no longer warm and full of life but cold, very cold. "I promise, Bubbles, I promise I'll never kill anything."

Later that day, he stood on the small hill near the garden over a patch of freshly dug earth where he had buried his dead friend. It was that day, that very day, that Draco Malfoy's heart had turned to ice.

"It was so long ago, yet I remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday," he sighed. He looked back upon his lifeless cousin and was reminded of the lifeless form of Bubbles, his only friend. He had felt this pain before...as he stood before Dumbledore, ready to kill him, this was the pain that stayed his hand. Draco couldn't kill...he wouldn't kill. But he couldn't let Tonks spread the word. Sighing, he pointed his wand at her and shouted "Obliviate!" That should keep her from talking. With that, he made his way back to the castle, still burdened by his painful memories.

A/N: This chapter was painful for me to write, both physically and mentally. Mentally because I love animals so much and hate it when they die, physically cuz my wrist is starting to hurt from typing too much . I do hope this was long enough to make up for the last chapter. And as for the whole Malfoy thing, it was just an idea that I had that might clear a few things up. If you're a Draco Malfoy hater, I'm sorry!