We offer our sincerest apologies to all of our wonderful readers. We realize that we have not updated this story in quite a while, but life has been very busy lately, and our muse seems to have run away for a time there. But it came running back recently, so we hope to start picking this story back up again. It's about to get very interesting.

Disclaimer: Just because a new year has come around, it does not mean that we haven't transfigured into a pair of JK Rowlings. While that would be really cool (and quite possibly disturbing), it hasn't happened, and therefore, Harry Potter and all of JK's universe that appears here sadly does not belong to us.

Ch. 29 - The Fallacy

The group landed roughly on a dirt path, directly in front of a huge, wrought iron gate with stone walls extending outward from either side of it. The gate itself was a sight to marvel at. Composed of many intricate designs, the gate seemed to overwhelm the eyes at first glance. Its entirety consisted of various star designs, none of which followed a particular pattern. It would take days sitting in front of this masterpiece to fully appreciate its beauty and complexity.

Beyond the gate, presumably lay the house. Except, all that met the eye was a dead plot of land. Weeds grew up from the barren dirt, and only a few clumps of grass struggled to survive. It looked like nothing had lived here for quite a while, and there was not a house in sight in which a person could have lived, whether a month ago or a hundred years ago.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Remus asked Dylan, his eyes darting from the locked gate to the empty patch of dirt beyond.

"Of course it is," Dylan replied as she smiled fondly at the gate. She took her enlarged necklace out of Remus' hand.

"But where's the house?" He asked curiously.

"You'll see. Now, how do you make this small again?" Dylan held the necklace up to Remus.

Seeing the necklace before him, Remus realized that the necklace somehow matched the gate, despite the inconsistency of its patterns. Confused and curious, Remus waved his wand and the necklace shrunk back down to its original size.

Dylan proceeded to walk up to the gate and insert the star of the necklace into one of the many star designs of the gate. It fit perfectly. Had she tried to insert it in any other spot of the gate, it would not have worked. Not only that, but the outcome would not have been beneficial to any of their healths.

Dylan turned the star necklace as if it were a combination lock, and the place she had inserted it in the gate strangely turned around with it. She spun it to the right, twisting it to an exact spot known only to her. Then, she spun it to the left slightly before twisting it back to the right and stopping at the exact place the gate required of her. A soft click emitted from the gate just before one of its doors quietly swung open. As it did so, the true property was revealed.

There was no dead plot of land beyond the gate now, but rather, a beautiful path leading up to a magnificent house. The grass was green and well kept, and there were flowers and trees aplenty. The house itself was a small castle made of light-grey stones. It was rather large for a house, but not so big to be absurd. Behind the castle rested a small lake, and beautiful gardens surrounded the house. The stone walls that extended from the gate wrapped around the property, serving as physical protection, and quite possibly laced with magical protection as well. The property was rather large, and it was impossible to see the back stone wall while standing at the gate.

"Welcome to the Fallacy," Dylan said happily as she walked through the gate. "Now get inside. If the place is being watched, they'll see you standing out there, gawking at barren land like a bunch of idiots."

The whole group merely blinked at Dylan, still in awe of Dumbledore's house. It must have taken some powerful magic to hide something as big and beautiful as this house just in front of their eyes.

"Well come on," Dylan urged impatiently. The vision was still fresh in her mind.

The group finally grabbed hold of their things once more and walked inside the gate. As they marveled at the property some more, Dylan closed the gate behind them. She inserted her necklace into a different spot of the gate where her necklace fit perfectly once again, turned it like a combination lock again, and once more, the gate clicked. She pulled her necklace out, put it back on, and pulled on the gate to verify that it was, indeed, locked.

"Ok, come on, everyone," Dylan told the group as she rolled her eyes. "Let's go inside the big, pretty house instead of just standing here gaping at it like it's the Queen's treasury."

With that, Dylan briskly set off up the path, not bothering to check if the others were following her. She unhooked her dog, Salazar, from his leash, and let him run free on the grounds.

The assorted group made their way up the long path to the house, following in the wake of Dylan's steps as their trunks and belongings floated slowly behind Arthur and Remus, who had taken the responsibility of levitating everyone's trunks into the house.

The walk up was not long, per se, but it did take a few minutes to reach the house. Even so, none of them seemed to mind the walk. In fact, it was quite peaceful. The nice, dirt path was covered by trees to keep the sun off, and beautiful flowerbeds lined the walkway. Butterflies floated lazily on air currents, landing on flowers and people when it suited their fancy. Birds cheeped quietly in the trees, and not a single disturbing sound met their ears. It was quite different from Grimmauld place, with its dark, gloomy atmosphere and city sounds. This place seemed to fill its occupants with a sense of calm and cheerfulness.

Occasionally, the path would split, with a subsidiary path leading towards another part of the property, such as the greenhouse or the lake. Finally, the path ended with two small steps that led to a little porch. Just beyond that lay the grand entrance to Dumbledore's Fallacy. The entrance consisted of two huge, solid wood double doors, the size of which could easily accommodate one the size of Hagrid, if not someone larger. The doors were adorned with several intricate designs, much like the gate had been. In fact, the designs seemed to be quite similar to the gate, with stars being the pattern of choice.

As soon as Dylan reached the doors, she wasted no time in opening them, and walked inside without waiting for the others, who could have gladly admired the doors for a while before stepping foot inside. Instead, they followed Dylan in.

The inside of the small castle was just as breathtaking as the grounds, gate, and front doors had been. Despite being decorated with expensive artifacts and furniture, the house still managed to feel inviting and quite casual. The colors of choice seemed to be purples, reds, and golds, and the house seemed so much like Dumbledore that many of the group could be seen wiping their eyes.

Arthur and Remus let everyone's belongings fall gently to the floor in the entrance hall before they, and everyone else, followed Dylan into a large living room.

The room was filled with various trinkets, like the rest of the house, but it was also filled with a few couches and many chairs, providing plenty of seating for each member of their motley group. There were tables laden with refreshments and snacks near each seat. A fireplace blazed with warm radiance, giving the room a very comforting feel.

Dylan immediately sat down in a plush chair near the fireplace, grabbing a cookie from a nearby table and nibbling contently on it as she ignored everyone else. The rest of the group joined her, picking various seats around the room. No one seemed to notice that they filled the seats perfectly. Not a seat remained empty, and not a single person was left standing. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny sat together on a large couch with a big coffee table in front of it, with four glasses and a large tray of cookies awaiting them.

"These are my favorite!" Ron shouted as he started grabbing cookies with both hands and shoving them in his mouth one after another. Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to spray a mouthful of cookie out, but resulting in a much slower pace of eating.

On the other side of the room, Remus and Tonks sat together on a small love seat that fitted them perfectly. Each picked up a glass of tea from the side table and began drinking them. Each glass was sweetened to the exact amount that suited its drinker.

Tonks was stressed, to say the least. In fact, she was very stressed. A lot had just happened in a very short time, and she was still quite confused as to why they were sitting here, in the late Dumbledore's house, instead of sitting in the gloomy kitchen of Grimmauld Place. She just hoped they were safe here.

Tonks sighed, and couldn't help wishing that the tea she was enjoying could have been a nice glass of Firewhiskey to help calm her. She raised the glass back to her lips, only to find that it was no longer tea. It was Firewhiskey. She immediately spat it back into the glass, which to her confusion, was now nothing but water.

Before Tonks could properly react, Dylan spoke up from her chair in the living room.

"The whole house does that," Dylan answered Tonks' unasked question. She looked not only at Tonks, but at the rest of the room, as well. Apparently, they had all had a similar experience to that which Tonks just witnessed. "It's a spell of some kind," Dylan continued. "Basically, the house gives you whatever you want."

"Like the Room of Requirement," Remus said quietly, not realizing that he was thinking aloud.

Both Remus and Hermione seemed to be contemplating whether or not Dumbledore cold have pulled something like this off, while everyone else had facial expressions ranging from glee to embarrassment.

"Yes, it is," Dylan answered, having been informed of the Room of Requirement from Tonks the night of the bachlorette party.

Dylan glanced around the room, noticing with amusement that the twins had already found a new game. They were preoccupied with making random things appear to then vanish, causing things to appear not just in front of them, but also in front of others. They were currently amused with trying out different ladies' hats on Ron's head while said victim made each hat abruptly vanish with his own wish of not being humiliated.

Dylan glanced around at everyone else's reactions, only to notice that the mentioning of the Room of Requirement seemed to bring forth many different memories of the room, which each and every single person seemed to carry. As she examined each of their amusing or embarrassing memories, an evil grin spread across Dylan's face.

My, my, Dylan thought to herself. What have we here? This Room of Requirement seems quite popular with the mischievous and romantic. Why, even the adults have had their fair share of embarrassing run-ins with it.

As Dylan turned her mischievous smirk on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, they realized what she had just seen in their minds. Each began to blush furiously, and Dylan could no longer hold in her laughter.

Ginny and Ron also noticed the blush creeping across their parent's faces, and each looked in horror at the other when they realized just why their parents were blushing. They had clearly done something disreputable in the Room of Requirement during their Hogwarts days. Ron and Ginny felt they would have been better off without that piece of knowledge. Dylan thought the looks on their faces were priceless, though.

Suddenly, Dylan became much more amused at what the twins were doing. They had stopped their game of making hats appear on top of Ron's head, and instead started making random things appear behind people, smacking them upside the head, only to disappear when the victim spun around to see who had hit them.

"Will you two stop it!?" Molly shouted at Fred and George after she had been hit twice, once by a fish and once by a rubber chicken. Her flush of embarrassment quickly turned into a flush of anger. "Really, with the way you two act, you'd think you were a pair of first years instead of 19-year-old business owners."

"Sorry, Mum," the twins replied in unison, each hanging their heads slightly at the scolding. It was a habitual reaction. They would be back to their first-year selves within minutes. There wasn't a scolding in the world that could change those two.

"Arthur," Remus said suddenly, "Perhaps we should go inspect the wards on this place. I'm sure they are more than we could ever come up with, but it never hurts to be sure."

"Better safe than sorry," Mr. Weasley agreed. "Shall we go now, then?"

"Yes, I think that would be best. Dylan, am I right in assuming that when we go outside—"

Dylan cut him off, answering, "If there's anyone or anything on the other side of that gate, all they'll see is a dead plot of land. They can neither hear nor see you."

Dylan then rolled her eyes as Molly said, "While you two do that, I think I will get Dylan to help with sorting out room assignments."

Remus, still sitting on the small loveseat, pulled Tonks close to him and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll be right back, love," Remus told her, smiling a reserved smile as if he were holding something back from her.

Before Tonks could ask him what was wrong, he stood up and walked across the room. Instead of going over to Arthur, who was already walking out of the room, Remus went to Harry and started speaking with him just as Hermione pulled Ginny away from both their couch and Remus and Harry's conversation.

"I need to talk to you, Harry," Tonks heard Remus say. Owing to the fact that they were clear across the large living room and that it was a whispered conversation they were now holding, Tonks only managed to pick out parts of it. She heard something about needing to plan, and apparently Ron and Hermione were in on whatever needed planning, too. Tonks was very confused to say the least, and then she heard Remus say, "I still need to tell her."

Her who? Tonks thought curiously. Is he talking about me? Why would he talk about me in a whispered conversation with Harry, of all people?

Then, Harry reluctantly stood up and found himself being gently dragged away with Remus. Apparently, Harry didn't want to talk. Remus wasn't giving him a choice. And Tonks was extremely confused.

Tonks looked over to Dylan (she always knew what was going on), but she had vacated her seat and was standing with her back to Tonks as she talked to Molly. Tonks stood up to hopefully ask Dylan what was going on with Remus and Harry, for she was way too impatient and curious to wait for Remus to return to ask him. He would probably take Harry along with him and Arthur as they surveyed the grounds and the wards.

As Tonks neared Molly and Dylan, she heard Molly ask, "Dylan, dear, where should we—"

"This way," Dylan answered as she walked off, going deeper into the house.

Molly quickly ordered everyone to follow, and follow they did. The twins took the lead, just behind Dylan, as they levitated everyone's trunks before them.

Dylan led the group out of the living room and back into the foyer, proceeding down the hall and towards a magnificent, twisting staircase. Much to Tonks' disappointment, Dylan led the group right up those stairs. Tonks followed to the base of the staircase, staring up at the grand staircase as the others made their way up it. She was about to give some lame excuse that would leave her to stay downstairs until Remus came back, but the stairs suddenly started moving slowly upwards, like a muggle escalator.

"Hey, cool!" One of the twins shouted up ahead as the staircase began moving and the other twin fell flat on his face with the sudden motion.

Tonks ignored them, grabbed hold of the handrail, and stepped on to the bottom step. It took her slowly upwards, and all she had to do was grab on to the rail with both hands and close her eyes tightly. She could hardly feel herself moving. It wasn't until the stair glided to a gentle stop that Tonks opened her eyes to find the group staring at her oddly and she realized that she had reached the top. Tonks patted the handrail as one would pat a loyal dog before following the group around a corner and into a new hallway.

Dylan stopped abruptly, and turned around to look at her followers. She gestured to the hallway, which was lined with many identical doors. "Pick a door," she said as she turned around and began to walk off.

"Wait, what?" Ginny asked, entirely confused.

Dylan stopped to look at her. "Pick a door."

Everyone stared at her blankly.

Dylan rolled her eyes, saying, "Pick a door, any door, for your room. Pick a door, put your stuff in your room, and then, well, do whatever for all I care."

She picked up her trunk from the pile of trunks now sitting in the middle of the hall, and walked out of the corridor, presumably to find her own room.

Everyone stared at each other for a bit longer, before Fred shrugged his shoulders and reached out for the first door he saw. As soon as he laid his hand on the doorknob, the door morphed into two, bright red doors. Shocked, Fred didn't turn the knob. As he stared, bright orange lettering spread across his door, proclaiming, 'Fred'. George stepped up beside him to touch the other door's handle, and as he did so, yellow lettering appeared, saying 'George'.

The twins glanced at each other, then opened their respective doors at the same time. When they did, they found that the room was large and split down the middle, each side reflecting the exact living quarters its twin preferred.

"Wicked," the twins said together as they stepped inside to inspect the room.

With piqued curiosity, Ron ran to the next door on the right, right beside the twins', and as he reached for the doorknob, the door turned Chudley Cannon orange and said 'Ron' in big, black font. Ron threw the door open excitedly to be greeted by the sight of a glaring orange room littered with plates of various treats. He quickly made his way towards the food.

"My turn!" Ginny shouted gleefully as she ran down the hallway and stood before the third door on the left. When she reached out to it, it turned emerald green, declaring 'Ginny' in delicate gold cursive. Inside, the room was decorated in earth tones, with a simple four-poster bed against one wall and a nice vanity against another.

Ginny disappeared inside it for a few moments before she quickly came running back out to suggest excitedly, "Hermione, you try it!"

Hermione curiously approached the door next to Ginny's room and right across from Ron's room. She studied the door for a moment before she reached out and touched the handle. The door turned a deep blue, with 'Hermione' written in simple and precise font the color of silver. Hermione continued to study the door with interest before Ginny reminded her that there was more to the magic. Hermione opened the door, to reveal simple, classic furniture and several bookshelves packed full with every sort of book imaginable. There was a large, cushy armchair by a window, perfect for some luxurious reading. Immediately, Hermione forgot her initial curiosity and made her way towards the books, scanning the spines and pulling various books off the shelves.

"Tonks, what about you?" Ginny asked.

Startled, Tonks blinked at Ginny before saying, "Right," and proceeded to walk down the hall to put some space between her and the kids. Tonks closed her eyes, waved her arms about a bit, and pointed with one hand in a random direction. When she opened her eyes, she walked towards the door she happened to point to, and said, "That one looks good."

Tonks stood before the door for a minute before she touched it. She was afraid it would turn bright pink, and Remus probably wouldn't like having a neon pink door, let alone whatever absurd colors the inside would happen to be. She wished he could have chosen the room, then it would have been designed to his tastes. And Tonks rather liked Remus' tastes.

Tonks took a deep breath, and reached out to grab the doorknob. Instantly, the door turned a beautiful cherry wood, with the words 'Remus & Nymphadora' neatly inscribed in gold on the front of it. Tonks glared at the door, and it reluctantly changed to say, 'Remus & Tonks'

"Much better," Tonks told it. She smiled and opened the door.

Walking in, Tonks was quite surprised that the place wasn't entirely neon. In fact, the room was quite perfect for her and Remus. A huge, beautiful four-poster bed of the same cherry wood the door was made of drew most of Tonks' attention. She had always loved those types of beds. A large fireplace took up a portion of one wall and flames already flickered in it, filling the room with a comforting warm glow. There was a full bookshelf and two comfortable sitting chairs on either side of it. Tonks was amazed that the curtains, the comforter on the bed, and the chairs all matched and that there were no eye damaging colors to be seen. Granted, the room did have many bold colors and many different patterns to its decorative style, but Tonks felt that Remus would definitely approve.

Smiling happily, Tonks stuck her head out of her door, checking to see what everyone else was doing. Ginny had followed Tonks into her room to see what the house created for Tonks, but apparently Ginny had already left to go to her own room. Tonks saw Molly choosing a room at the far end of the hall for her and Arthur. Everyone else seemed to have disappeared, most likely to inspect his or her new rooms.

Tonks had just sat down in one of her amazingly comfortable armchairs when she heard voices in the hall. Curious, she went out of her room again to find that Dylan had returned and many people had come out of their rooms.

"What's going on?" Tonks asked, noticing that Dylan was deep in conversation with Fred and George.

Ginny answered, saying, "Dylan's going to show us the way to the kitchen so we can eat lunch."

"Did someone say lunch?" Ron came bolting out of his room, half a pumpkin pasty shoved in his mouth.

"Ron," Hermione said exasperatingly from her doorway as she rolled her eyes.

"What?" Ron mumbled out of a still-full mouth. "I'm starved."

"I can see that," Hermione replied dryly.

Ron blushed.

"Hey, Dylan," Tonks began as Dylan turned to look at her. "Where's the—,"

Dylan replied, "There's a bathroom in your room, or—," Dylan pointed to the closest unclaimed room as the door swung open to reveal what was quite clearly a bathroom, "That room's one now."

"Oh," Tonks blinked, quite clearly surprised. "Alright, thanks."

"No problem," Dylan replied as she turned to finish her conversation with the twins.

Tonks went to the hallway bathroom and used the loo. When she was done and realized that everyone had already left for the kitchen, she decided to wander around a bit. This was Dumbledore's house, after all, and she wanted to see what other exciting things it held in store for her. She was also curious as to just how big this house was. Consequently, Tonks managed to get herself hopelessly lost. She did, however, happen to see quite a few vastly interesting things.

Just when she was getting hungry and wanted to find the kitchen to see what Molly had made for lunch, Tonks walked right into the kitchen.

"What the…" Tonks muttered. She could have sworn she was a lot farther away than that.

"Hey," Remus walked towards her, "Where'd you go to?"

"Oh, well I got lost," Tonks replied. "Just how big is this place?"

Dylan asked, "Well what were you looking for?"

"Nothing in particular. I just thought I'd explore some."

"And didn't the house let you do just that?"

"Well, yeah, it did, but…so what's for lunch?" Tonks looked around at everyone, noticing for the first time that something was clearly wrong.

Harry and Ginny were nowhere to be found, Molly looked as if she had been crying, Hermione looked upset and slightly guilty, and Remus was giving Tonks an unconvincing smile.

At the exact moment Tonks was about to open her mouth to say something, Harry came storming into the room, demanding angrily, "Why won't it let me find her? Dylan, why can't I find Ginny? Her room's disappeared entirely from the hallway."

Dylan answered nonchalantly, "Well clearly she doesn't want anyone to find her. The house is only obeying her wishes."

"But I need to find her," Harry growled. "Why won't the house listen to me?"

"Clearly her need's greater than yours."

"I highly doubt that," Harry mumbled as he abruptly left again.

Tonks stared unbelievingly at the empty doorway for a moment before she turned to Remus and asked, "What's going on? Why's everyone upset, and why is Ginny hiding from Harry?"

Remus' false smile slid from his face. He took a deep breath and said, "We need to talk. Let's find some place a bit more private."

Grabbing hold of Tonks' hand, Remus gently led her out of the kitchen and to what Tonks thought was the living room they had been in earlier, except that this time, there was only a small love seat and one coffee table in front of a flickering fireplace. Remus gestured for Tonks to take a seat, and once she had done so, he sat down next to her.

"What's wrong, Remus?" Tonks asked sternly. She was getting really worried now. The events in the kitchen did not bode well, and the look Remus was giving her was definitely not comforting. He looked like a guilty schoolboy who had done something wrong and was about to face the headmaster for it.

Remus did not answer her, but merely turned to face her, taking both of her hands in his.

"Remus?" Tonks asked in a weak voice. She felt on the brink of crying, and she hadn't even been given a reason to yet. I hate hormones, Tonks thought.

Remus sighed, and said, "There's nothing wrong, I just need to tell you something, all right?"

Tonks wasn't convinced, not by a long shot. Even so, she nodded consent to him as a tear rolled slowly down her cheek.

"And you can't do that," Remus gently wiped the tear off of her cheek, "Or I will never be able to get through what I need to say to you."

"I can't make any promises," Tonks sniffed and mentally gave her hormones a death threat, "But I'll try."

Remus nodded and said, "Tonks, I—I am…" He closed his eyes for a second, before taking a deep breath and opening them again to say, "I have decided to go with Harry and them to help them find and destroy the horcruxes in order to end this war once and for all."

Tonks' heart froze at the word 'go'. How could he leave her? He had promised he would never leave again. She had just gotten him back not too long ago, and she was not about to lose him again. Not now. She needed him now. She needed him now more than ever, for she highly doubted she could do all of this baby business and dealing with hormones without him. And what he was thinking of doing would be very dangerous. Voldemort would be right on their tails, waiting to pick them off when they least expected. Tonks couldn't stand to lose Remus forever.

Tears were flowing freely from Tonks' eyes, and she had yet to say a word to the worried Remus.

Tonks whispered forlornly, "You're leaving me?"

"No! Merlin, no. I'm not leaving you, Tonks. It's just…Tonks, you have to understand. I'm doing this for you."

"Me?" Tonks said much louder this time and with a hint of rage. "How could you be doing this for me if it's the very last thing in the world that I want you to do?

"I'm doing this for you and me and the baby. I'm doing this so that our baby won't be born into the world we currently live in, where everyone is afraid to blink because they or one they love might horribly lose their lives. I'm doing this so that our baby will be born into a better world where there's no Voldemort and where they will be safe to live a happy life." Remus paused before adding quietly, "I'm doing this so that our baby won't have to live the type of life Harry's had to live. No child deserves to grow up like that."

"But why you?" Tonks said through her tears. "Why does it have to be you that goes with them?"

"Harry needs my help. I'm all he's got left, and he's only teenager. He may be a very mature teenager who's had far more experience with Voldemort than any grown adult should have, but he still needs help. I'm the one who has to help him. With my help, I think it will go faster. I think we'll be able to get this over with sooner."

"Please, Remus," Tonks pleaded, holding onto his hands tightly as if she could keep him rooted to this spot by mere force alone. "You can't leave me. You can't. You have to stay here with me, with the baby." Sounding for all it was worth as if the world had suddenly abandoned her, Tonks whispered, "What will I do without you? I need you, Remus." Tonks hiccupped. "Y-you—You pr-romised me."

Feeling as if the world had suddenly ended and all blame rested directly on him, Remus pulled Tonks into a comforting embrace and tried to calm her down, all the while attempting to calm himself. She would forgive him for this. He hoped.

Tonks buried her head in Remus' chest as he gently stroked her hair. Eventually, she managed to regain control of her emotions, although she couldn't stop the freely falling stream of tears. Remus decided to try talking to her once more, and he gently lifted her up a bit so he could see her face. As Tonks looked into his eyes with her own sorrow-filled ones, she noticed that Remus had tears in his eyes, as well.

Oh, it must really kill him when I fall apart like this, Tonks thought. But I just can't help it anymore.

"Tonks, please," Remus pleaded, "You have to understand why I'm doing this."

"I do, Remus, I really do. But you promised me. You said you'd never leave me again."

"I know I did. But I'm doing this to help make a world where you and the baby and, well, everyone will be safe. It needs to be done."

"But you're leaving me," Tonks looked at Remus with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. "Please don't leave, Remus."

"Oh Merlin. Tonks, you can't do this to me. Please don't. If you keep at this, I'll never be able to—they need me, Tonks."

"I need you, Remus!"

"You'll be in good hands here."

"But I want you, not anyone else."

"Tonks," Remus closed his eyes tightly in frustration. How could he go through with this, knowing that he was doing this to the one he loved? Hadn't he put her through enough turmoil just last year when he tried to help the Order by consulting with the werewolves? "They need me, Tonks. Harry needs me. The world needs me to help end this war. Don't you want this to be over?"

"Yes," Tonks replied, staring glumly at her hands.

Remus said quietly, "Then do you see why I have to leave?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to be all right?"

Tonks buried her head in Remus' chest once more, throwing her arms around his middle. Remus held her close, hoping that she could find it in her heart to forgive him for breaking his promise.

After a while of no response to his question, Remus asked, "Tonks?"

Tonks pulled away from him to look him in the face. "You have to swear you'll come back to me."

"I can't make that promise, Tonks. What if—"

"No 'what if's, Remus! You are coming back to our baby and me alive and whole. We are going to win this war, have our child in a safe and happy world, get married and…and we'll move to a nice house in the country. We'll raise our child in the world you help make for it. You will come back to me, Remus…You have to."

Remus put his hand on Tonks' cheek, wiping a tear away with his thumb.

"I will come back, Tonks," Remus promised. "I swear I'll come back to you."

Remus pulled Tonks back to him once more, holding her tight while she cried her heart out into his chest, knowing full well that he might never come back to her.