There really were no words for what Tonks felt in the English language. She was happy, but afraid. She was willing to cry and laugh at the same time. Her heart was pounding against her chest, yet perfectly still as well. She was hot, yet she was cold. The world was a blank. Her mother and father were gone. Charlie and Fred were gone, as were Sirius and Bastet. No one mattered except the man she loved, who she nearly lost forever.

But he was here. He was beside her, a solid human being, looking healthier and better than ever before. Remus Lupin, her husband, was here! He held Teddy in his arms, still awed by his son's existence. Teddy's hair was bright orange.

"He's a smart boy, he knows who his daddy is already," Tonks had remarked at the change of color.

So, as the night drew on, Remus, Tonks, and Teddy made their way upstream and settled on a large boulder that wasn't covered in snow to sit on and catch up with one another. The night was cold, but to Tonks, it could've been Absolute Zero out there and she still would've felt warm. She leaned her head on Remus' shoulder as he fingered Teddy's cheek.

"Can you see us from where you are?" Tonks asked dreamily.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't spy in on you, your mum, and Teddy. I think about you nonstop," Remus confessed. "And I must admit, I've cried a lot more than I've smiled after having a look see."

Tonks actually cringed. "So, you WERE there, then? The other day when I was with that magic tribe…in the river?"

Remus nodded. "I've been so many places, Tonks, you would never believe. How do you think you made it here?"

"What?" Tonks asked. "What do you mean?"

"Why do you think those French Aurors never caught up to you and Andromeda?"

Tonks blinked. "You did that?"

Remus nodded. "How do you think Charlie found you during that miserable storm where you and Teddy were about to fall to your deaths?"

Tonks was in awe.

"And I was there with you while you were a hostage of that Muggle tribe. I guided your mum's Patronus to you. Why do you think you saw a wolf at first? I was running alongside it for most of the time," Remus confessed.

"How did you do that?"

Remus shook his head. "That, you cannot know, because it is a Secret of The Dead," Remus replied. Tonks sighed.

"Remus, I am so sorry," Tonks cried. Remus used her free hand to run a soft, tender finger town Tonks' cheek as a tear fell. "I betrayed you, I failed you!"

"How so, Dora?" Remus asked, sounding more curious than angry.

"During the battle, where you died, you said that you trusted me with your life. And I failed you. Dolohov got me, and I was knocked out, and that was when he got you!" Tonks said. "If I'd been a better fighter, you'd be back in England with me now, in bed with me, or around the dinner table or whatever time it is now!"

"No, don't you dare think that way," Remus said sternly. Tonks quivered as he touched her face again. "Why aren't you grateful? That is all I ask now."

"Grateful? For your death?" Tonks asked, somewhat offended. Remus shook his head.

"Grateful that I died for you! Dora, without me intervening, he would have gotten you! You were a helpless body lying on the floor, I couldn't just watch him kill you in order to save myself! I wouldn't have been able to live with myself," Remus said, shuddering at the dark thought.

"Well, now I can't live with MYSELF! We were stuck!" Tonks said back, crying now.

"It was a terrible situation for us to be in," Remus agreed. "It was either you or me went. And Dora, you are still so young. You're only twenty-five!"

"And you were only thirty-eight! That's not old, either!" Tonks protested. "And don't you pull that 'more people would miss you' or 'you had more of a purpose anyway' bullshit! You always felt sorry for yourself! You had so much here, Remus."

Remus nodded solemnly. "You're right."

Remus and Tonks simultaneously looked down at their child, who was sucking away at his thumb. Remus gently pulled Teddy's hand away from his mouth and spoke tenderly to him. "No, no, young man. You'll develop dental problems later if you do that!"

Tonks let out an airy laugh. Remus looked up at her again.

"Take care of him for me, Dora," he said softly. "He is a fine looking boy. He'll need a lot of care growing up without a father." Tonks blinked back more tears.

"But he will have his father," Tonks said. Remus' look changed quickly to a look of moderate alarm.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I know where this place is now! I can easily memorize the territory and Apparate here with mum and Teddy a few times a year, and we can visit!" Tonks proposed. Remus shook his head.

"Dora, think long and hard before you answer me this, but do you really think that is a good idea?"

"Of course I do—"

"—coming here a few times a year to show Teddy the man he could've grown up knowing as his father? It will drive him mad, Dora. And it will drive you mad, too," Remus said. "It's not healthy."

"Well, what do you expect me to do, then? Sit around and cry for the rest of my life over what almost was?" Tonks asked. Remus shook his head.'

"Of course not," Remus said. "I want you to move on. I want you to get married again one day, darling. I want you to make more babies and to continue your work as an Auror. And I want you to see Teddy's own wedding day, I want you to see your grandchildren, and I don't want to see you here until you have died of old age, warm in your bed with your family beside you. Is that so much to ask?"

"YES!" Tonks said, somewhat loudly. "I refuse to marry again, for one, and if I barely survived the Battle of Hogwarts, then how do you expect me to be able to survive another good forty years of Auror work? It isn't like you'll be there to protect me again! Honestly, you might as well have asked me to rule the world!"

Remus chuckled to himself and rocked Teddy back and forth a few times before speaking again. "You are a lot stronger than you think you are. You made it through the journey here, didn't you?"

"You said that was because I had your help along the way!" Tonks said back.

"I kept the French Aurors off your tail as your flew away! I didn't give you the idea to break out of prison in the first place! That was you and your mother! As for the Patronus, I helped guide it to the camp you were held captive at. I didn't give you help when you Disapparated and escaped from there! And I may have helped Charlie Weasley rescue you from the storm, but you held on to Teddy, and that took more courage and strength than any normal person could've had."

Tonks stared blankly at Remus. "But I still won't marry again!"

Remus sighed. "Too bad, because Charlie Weasley is in love with you!"

Tonks shook her head. "That's too bad for him, because I don't love him back."

"I assure you, Dora, he will be a sturdier match for you—"

"—I don't care!" Tonks said angrily, getting up from their sitting place and beginning to pace up and down the rover bank. "Remus, we may not have even made it to our first anniversary, but that doesn't mean I have to get married again before it comes around!"

"It already has come around, Dora," said Remus with a smile. Tonks stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her husband.

"W….what day is it?" Tonks asked.

"It's past midnight. Today's date, I believe, is July 12th, 1998," Remus said. Tonks' eyes widened and filled with even more tears.

"Today is our one-year anniversary," she sobbed. Remus, for the first time, had tears come to his eyes as well. He stood up and went to hug Tonks. Teddy seemed pleased to be sandwiched in the middle, even as both of his parents sobbed somewhat uncontrollably.

"Happy anniversary, darling," Tonks muttered sadly.

Remus sighed. "Happy Anniversary, Dora," he replied. "I'm so sorry it had to be spent like this."

"At least we're with each other," said Tonks. "If it wasn't for my trip here, I would've spent it all alone, crying in my bedroom at my mum's house, or in front of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place with a half-empty bottle of Sirius' firewhiskey," Tonks said. "But I'm here with you, and that's all that matters," she said.

When they finally let go after what seemed like hours but was probably no more than two or three minutes, Remus smiled sadly at his wife. "You need to swear that no matter how much you grow to miss me, you will never come back here."

"Remus, I can't be so sure," Tonks said, shaking her head.

"I want you to be happy again," Remus said. "I will be able to rest knowing you are happy and enjoying life raising our son."

"It…it will be hard, on my own," Tonks said.

"You do have your mum to help," Remus said. "Besides, what's raising a child anyway? Dirty diapers, shoe shopping before the school term begins, dentist visits every six months, the occasional grounding, and Christmas at the Burrow every year listening to Molly moon over how much he's grown?"

Tonks giggled. "You make it sound so…easy. But you don't understand how hard it will be for me. Remus, he looks so much like you. It will be like watching you grow up," Tonks said. "It will hurt me every time I look into his eyes and see you looking back at me."

Remus looked at his feet. "I never thought of it that way, to be honest," he admitted.

"But, I really have no choice, do I?" Tonks said, smiling up at her husband. Remus smiled back at her.

"You swear you will never look back, only forward?" Remus said.

Tonks took a deep breath and nodded. Remus handed Teddy back to Tonks as she nodded. "I swear it," she promised. "Think of it as my anniversary present to you!"

"I'll never stop loving you, Dora," Remus said, leaning in to kiss Tonks. Tonks felt the kiss turn her body cold as Remus' kiss had never done before.

After a minute of kissing, Tonks pulled back.

She was alone.

Looking around in a panic, Tonks yelled out. "Remus? REMUS?" Her voice was breathy and panicked. Where had Remus gone?

She failed to notice that the sheet of cloud cover had just given way to a complete clear sky and a bright gibbous moon hovering above the river.

Remus stood there, complete aware of still standing right in front of Tonks. Tonks, however, could not see him anymore. Remus looked up at the moon, shining brightly above them. Tonks looked scared and alone suddenly. She cradled his son tightly in her arms as she backed away from him.

"Dora, I'm still here!" Remus said. But apparently, she was deaf to his voice as well. Looking up at the sky again, Remus saw no more clouds moving through, and none loomed to the west waiting to pass over. It was going to be a completely clear night.

Remus' shoulders fell, realizing that they had been torn apart again too soon. He felt his heart almost begin to beat again with pain and sadness as Tonks looked around for him. It was like watching her from underneath an Invisibility Cloak, or from behind a glass wall that he could see through, but she couldn't. Remus knew that this was the last time he would see her in this lifetime, and she would not see him again until her time came to die. Tonks looked afraid as she turned her back on Remus and walked away to find her mother and Charlie, who were surely just as puzzled and sad as she was. Remus smiled. All three of them had to go back to facing the rest of their lives.

But they were ready. Remus knew in his heart they were ready.