Chapter 52

(A/N:Sorry for the short chapter! )

February 15, 1996

Remus rushed to St. Mungo's as fast as he could. He found Mad-Eye in the waiting room, looking impatient.

"Tonks, where is she? What's happened? Oh Merlin, she's not dead, right?" Remus said, panicking.

Moody just stared at him for a moment, making him wait, before finally saying, "Tonks is fine. Kingsley, on the other hand..."

Mad-Eye led Remus to Kingsley's room, where he was sprawled out on the bed, eyes closed. A rather nasty looking gash, dangerously close to his heart, was bleeding rapidly.

"What...?" Remus gasped.

"Bellatrix," mumbled Tonks, who was sitting beside Kingsley, tears streaming down her face. "My dear aunty..."

"Is he going to be okay? Did Bellatrix escape? Where—"

"Slow down," growled Moody. "As you know, Bellatrix attacked Tonks's parents last night. Everyone expected her to get the hell out of there, and they started searching quite a ways away from the house. Unfortunately Bellatrix was waiting in the house for Tonks, knowing that she's an auror. Tonks didn't go inside until about a half an hour ago, and Bellatrix threw a knife at her. Unfortunately, Tonks's mum tried to repel it away, but messed up the spell, and it hit Kingsley."

"Wait— how did Tonks's mum not know her sister was in her house?" Remus asked.

"That's the funny bit—we don't know. I have a sneaking suspicion that Andromeda isn't really on our side. That would explain how the knife 'accidentally' hit Kingsley. But, then again, she did notify the auror office when she saw Bellatrix..."

Tonks made a sniffling noise, and Remus moved closer to her, wrapping his arm around her. She snuggled into his chest, a rather distressing expression on her face.

"As for Kingsley... well, Bella had some curses on that knife, and it's taking us a while to work them all out. He'll probably be okay, though," Mad-Eye said.

The rest of the morning was spent trying to uncover and undo the curses on Kingsley's wound. Around noon Mad-Eye suggested that Tonks and Remus go interrogate Tonks's mum. Tonks hesitated at first, but then agreed.

"This is going to be an absolute disaster," Tonks murmured as they left the hospital. "I haven't talked to my mum since I graduated Hogwarts..."