"What the hell happened to you?" Sirius asked as he and Tonks assisted Remus down the hallway and into the lounge.

"Remus will explain. I've got to try and contact Kingsley," Tonks replied as they set Remus down on the sofa. She gave Remus a look of deep concern before she abruptly swept out of the room toward the kitchen.

Sirius was looking over Remus' chest, tracing the length of the cut with his eyes. Remus slumped back against the couch and closed his own eyes. Every inch of his body ached, as if he been ran over by a Muggle car or perhaps struck by lightning. He knew he should get up to take care of his wounds, especially the one on his chest which he could feel was still oozing blood. But at the moment he was experiencing a bewildering combination of utter exhaustion and panicked racing thoughts that seemed to make the room appear to be twirling. The whole ordeal of being captured, tortured and rescued had happened in what felt like less than an hour since he had been stunned for most of it. He was struggling to keep pace.

"Remus," Sirius whispered. Then louder, "Remus!"

"I'm okay," he replied. He opened his eyes to reassure Sirius.

"You don't look okay," he replied. "You are still bleeding." Sirius sat down next to him. Gently he moved the ragged remnants of Remus' shirt to get a better look at the injury. He pointed his wand at the cut and recited a healing incantation. Remus felt the skin knitting itself back together. The sensation burned, then itched as Sirius traced the incision from top to bottom and then bottom to top. He let out a low hiss. "Sorry," Sirius replied in response.

When he was done he performed the same spell on the cut on Remus' face, leaning in close to concentrate. Remus clenched his fists in an attempt to stay still. "These weren't done by a spell," Sirius observed.

"Knife," Remus croaked in response.

Sirius leaned back to observe Remus' expression. "A knife? Are you going to tell me what happened and why Tonks needed to get a hold of Kingsley immediately?"

Remus closed his eyes again and reached out to grasp Sirius hand. Sirius held his hand securely and moved closer to comfort him. "It was an ambush. Four of them. Knew we were there." It was difficult to speak through the pain and disorientation. Sirius pulled Remus into his arms, holding him lightly.

"They tortured him," Tonks was in the doorway again. Her face looked sunken and hollow. Remus noticed she was still wearing his coat, but the front of it was covered in his own blood and the left arm had a large hole where Tonks seemed to have been burnt by an errant spell judging by the singe marks. "I heard him screaming." She walked across the room to face them, holding out a small blue bottle.

Sirius took it, examined it for a moment then took out the stopper and offered it to Remus. Remus didn't bother to even look at it before downing the whole thing and letting the empty bottle fall to the floor.

Tonks took a seat on the couch next to Remus. She sat gingerly on the edge of it with her face in her hands. They all sat in silence for a long moment, Sirius watching Tonks waiting for more details and Remus curled against Sirius with his eyes half closed, breathing heavily. Finally she broke the silence. "I thought they were going to kill you," her voice was barely above a whisper. She began to shake. "I thought-" but even as she started to speak again she had began to sob.

Remus' eyes widened and he sat up to look at her. She looked back through her tears. Suddenly she rushed forward throwing her arms around him, and pulling him into a tight embrace. She cried on to his chest, shaking and trembling. Remus awkwardly patted her on the back while Sirius readjusted so that he was still able to touch Remus to comfort him but Tonks had enough room to also hug him without hitting Sirius in the face.

Tonks continued in vain to try to explain what had happened but only seemed to manage to get a word or two in before succumbing to more tears. Remus gave up on patting her back and simply held her while she sobbed. Sirius moved again so that he was able to put an arm around each of them in order to comfort them both. This gesture only seemed to make Tonks cry harder.

Remus tried to soothe her by repeating combinations of, "I'm fine. I'm right here. It's okay. We are home."

Finally after several minutes Tonks was able to regain enough composure to speak again. She sat up and moved back from them swiftly as if she was startled to have found herself so close to them both. "I'm so sorry," her embarrassment was palpable even through her hoarse voice. "I didn't mean to make a scene."

Remus reached out and squeezed her hand, "Nothing to be ashamed of. We just went through something quite traumatic. And I'm not about to complain. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be here."

"Now that we've gotten the horrible blood and tears part over with, can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Sirius replied. Though he couldn't resist making a smart comment, his tone was much milder than usual.

Remus was starting to feel more stable and the potion had lessened the pain considerably. "We were ambushed by four Death Eaters who seemed quite aware that there would be some Order members in the area. One of them caught me off guard and stunned me. I don't really know what happened after that but when I woke up we were in a building. They questioned and tortured me and then Tonks showed up and saved me."

Sirius gave Tonks an impressed look, "All four by yourself?"

Tonks blushed and nodded, "Well I managed to stun one earlier and he fell in the lake so there were only three by then."

"Still highly impressive," Sirius replied. Tonks gave him a small smile. He turned to Remus. "But they used a knife?"

"They used the unforgivable first. Then they switched to a silver blade. They probably thought the silver would hurt worse for me. All that bollocks about silver being poison to a werewolf. Trust me the knife hurt a lot less the Cruciatus." He gave an involuntary shutter.

"They knew you were a werewolf?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Avery was with them and he remembered me from Hogwarts." Remus replied. He noticed Tonks was frowning deeply. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

"I think he must have drowned. That man who fell in the lake. His friends didn't come back for him," she stated. Her voice sounded strained.

"Good riddance," Sirius cheered.

Tonks turned to look at him solemnly. "I have never killed anyone before." Remus reached for her hand again and she looked at him with a sort of desperation in her eyes.

"You're and Auror. It was bound to happen at some point, especially with the Death Eaters running about again. And if it was him for Remus, I'd have killed him a hundred times," Sirius assured her.

She squeezed Remus hand and he squeezed hers back in reassurance "His comrades should have pulled him out. They killed him as much as you did."

She looked away. "It just seemed so inconsequential at the time. He was in the way and they were going to hurt you or worse. I didn't even think about him drowning until now."

"That's what they reduce us to," Sirius replied bitterly. "They make us do these terrible things because they don't care about who they harm. Enjoy it even. Makes me sick. They wouldn't shed a tear or even spare a thought over killing one of us Tonks. Don't condemn yourself over one of them."

"We should inform Dumbledore about this," Remus replied. He didn't have the energy to pursue their current line of discussion any further at the moment.

Tonks turned to him. "I explained the whole thing to Kingsley. I hoped he'd be able to take care of the clean up so there wouldn't be too many questions about what happened. He's going to update Dumbledore on the whole mess once he's done."

Remus nodded. He realized he was still holding Tonks hand in his own and released it.

Tonks reclined back into the couch next to him. "I don't know what to do now," she confessed. "I don't want to be alone tonight. Not after- everything that's happened tonight."

"Stay the night again then," Sirius replied. "You both look like hell. You probably should get some sleep."

"Do you need one of us to take care of that?" Remus asked pointing at the burn mark on her arm.

"Oh. Probably should." She peeled off Remus battered coat. "Sorry about your coat," she said as she folded and laid it on the back of the couch. She paused and looked at the two of them sheepishly. "I, err, I'm only wearing a bra under my jumper."

Remus blushed scarlet and Sirius replied, "It's nothing we haven't seen before Tonks."

"If you don't mind then," she replied, a touch of pink was visible on her cheeks under the puffy bags beneath her eyes. She pulled her sweater over her head to reveal a lacy black bra and turned so her injured arm was facing Sirius.

"Nice," he teased with a short whistle. Remus swatted him on the side of the head but he just laughed. He pointed his wand at the burn on Tonks' arm and performed the same healing charm he had on Remus. "All better. I suppose you can put your shirt back on."

Tonks complied, taking an inordinate amount of time fussing with the sleeves. Finally she turned to face them with her eyes downcast. "Would it be too weird if - Can I sleep in the same room with you two tonight?" She looked visibly uncomfortable as she waited for them to respond. Remus looked at Sirius but could not discern his expression. "I could sleep on the floor. I just, I don't think I could sleep by myself," Tonks rushed to fill the silence.

Remus continued to watch Sirius, waiting for his reply, feeling certain that he should be the one to decide. Sirius seemed to be scrutinizing Tonks very seriously. She looked as if she were holding her breath. Then Sirius smiled. "We won't make you sleep on the floor. What's the point in magic if you can't make your bed bigger?"

Remus smiled and Tonks laughed. Sirius stood and held out an arm to each of them. "Come on then. I should get you two infirms to bed before you pass out on the couch and I have to levitate you." They each stood and took one of his arms. "I'm taking the middle though," he stated matter of factly as he led them to the bedroom.

AN:

Well Happy New Year readers! I have a surprise for you. I'm going to be posting several chapters today. There will be another author's note on the last chapter I post so stay tuned for more. I hope you enjoy the new chapters. Buckle up. You are in for an emotional roller coaster ;)