This is a very long chapter, but it's the last of it's kind for awhile, because this took so long to write and upload and I don't want to keep you waiting again. You have no idea how stressful this was to write and i'm hoping to write more shorter chapters in the furture which will be uploaded quicker than this one which took a month. Oh, p.s. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wow! 2011. Who thought we'd get here. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, i'm sorry about the wait.

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"Mum's a little unpredictable".

"How so?".

"Well, she has major mood swings, worse than mine. Sometimes she's really happy and calm, well most of the time really, but sometimes she goes off on one. I take after her for that, we can both get extremely angry extremely quickly" I explained. "Dad always clams her down though, there really... together, you know? They don't fight much, and even when they do it's over silly things".

"You look up to them".

"Yeah, I do. They're my parents" I smiled. He smiled back at me, "can I tell you something?" I whispered.

"What's that?" Remus asked, reaching out his hand and pushing some hair that had fallen into my eyes, away. We were lying in my cosy bed, facing each other. I wriggled closer to him so he could put his hand on my hip and pull me closer to him.

"You know you asked me a little while ago if I was worried about tonight, and I said no?".

"Yes...".

"I lied".

"I thought as much" he smiled, "you have nothing to worry about, I on the other hand...".

"Don't either" I finished for him.

"I want to make a good impression, Dora. I want to prove to your parents that I deserve you. I love you" he whispered. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but I choked. Instead, I leaned forward and kissed his mouth desperately, threading my fingers through his hair and pulling his body to mine. His arms wrapped around my waist as he kissed my lips, brusing them as his mouth plundered mine. I shuddered a moan as he rolled me onto my back, the heat of his body on top of mine made me lose all sense of control...


"I hate shopping" I groaned, as I leaned on the bar of the trolley I was pushing. I hated these muggle contraptions, I always seemed to get the one with the wonky wheel. Remus was walking ahead, happily ignoring me while scanning the vague list of foods that I'd written down on a scrap of parchment. There were several reasons for it being vague, one; I hated shopping and therefore put no effort into it. Two; I had only had five minutes to write it before Remus dragged me from the flat.

"Hush" he muttered, reaching to one of the shelves and pulling down a bag of goodness know what.

"Don't tell me to hush" I mumbled, annoyed. He glanced back at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Someone's a little grumpy this afternoon" he said, smiling knowingly. He knew exactly why I was grumpy. I was perfectly happy with staying in bed all day, especially with Remus beside me, but noooo, we had to go shopping. Personally, I'd rather starve. I just glared at him as fiercely as possible, and he chuckled. "I know you'd rather starve-" mind reader "-but I won't allow it, so, push the trolley properly dear". The way he said it made me burst out laughing, startling a few young girls who had been standing nearby, eyeing up a young male shop worker.

"Sorry" I cringed. Two of the girls giggled, but the one in the middle just smiled and nudged her friends to stop.

"S'ok" she replied, and the girls started walking off.

"Startling little children, Nymphadora...".

"Oh piss off" I mumbled. He chuckled again, and slung something in the trolley, before grabbing the end of the trolley and pulling me down the aisle. Down the aisle. I really was a dreamer.

"Dora, love, what on earth does that say?" Remus said, abruptly, handing me the piece of parchment and pointing at the third word down. Honestly, I had no clue, so I made it up.

"Chocolate? Sausages? Waffles, mmm... waffles. Can we get some?" I asked.

"Sure" he muttered, vaguely, before tearing up the list in his hand. "We'll play it by ear, I can't read a word of that".

"Hey, I worked extremely hard on that" I said, as indignantly as possible. He turned round to say something, but I stopped him. "Don't comment, I know, I know". He smiled and walked back to me, putting his arm around my waist and pressing a kiss into my hair.

"Can we get this shopping done?". I nodded.

As it turns out shopping wasn't all that bad. A bit tedious and boring at times, but after a particularly funny incident involving my trolley, 4 teenage lads and several shelves stacked with milk, I was beginning to enjoy myself. Yes, it had been embarrassing at the time, and Remus had been on the verge of hysterics at my expense, but looking back one day I'm sure I will laugh. Maybe. Now that the mess was cleaned up and the 4 lads and I had been ranted at by the store manager (Remus had mysteriously disappeared at this point. Coward!), me and Remus were now happily browsing the back aisles of the store, the trolley almost full and talking about my parents.

"Mum doesn't work, never did. Although there was this old lady in the village, used to go round there when I was younger and mum would look after her. She was a nice old lady, always gave me toffees and loved my magical hair".

"Was she a muggle?" Remus enquired, lightly.

"Yes" I replied, and he turned sharply. "But she was really old and her mind wasn't what it had been when she was younger. She always forgot, but if she'd told anyone, I doubt they would have looked into it".

"Do you remember her name?".

"Anne" I replied. "She had the most beautiful house I've ever seen, really old and rustic, but still beautiful. The garden was huge though, and there was a stable next door and horses prancing around the fields at the back. That was before Hogwarts" I whispered, sadly.

"You got on with your neighbours then?" asked Remus, quickly, obviously trying to distract me, it worked.

"Not all of them. I think I was a bit too strange" I smiled, "I don't really care though".

"So, what about your dad?" asked Remus. "You speak alot about your mum, should I be worried about your dad?"

"Shouldn't think so, he's pretty accepting, like most of us Hufflepuffs" I realised what I'd just said, and gasped quickly. "Sorry Remus, I didn't mean, you know-".

"It's fine Dora, I don't honestly know what your apologising for, but all the same..." he smiled. I chuckled weakly. "Chocolate?" he asked, picking up a bar from the shelf.

"Defiantly, although I prefer Honeydukes" I mused, whispering 'Honeydukes' as a muggle walked past with a basket.

"So do I, maybe we should get some from there instead" Remus muttered, putting it back.

"So, what about you? What was it like where you lived?" I asked.

"I lived in a fairly old cottage, in the middle of the country. It was nice there, peaceful and quiet, until the marauders came for the holiday that is" he laughed.

"I can imagine".

"Yes, but mum loved them. And so did dad, although he was never around much while they were there. I think they made too much noise" he laughed. "There was a lake nearby, and in the summer we used to go swimming in it. If we weren't at James's house, of course. We were there a lot".

"Sounds like fun. There's no lakes where I live. Lived, I should say. Except for a great, dirty pond in the back garden. It used to be full of Ducks during the summer. The noise they made drove mum mad. Me too actually, they were right outside my window".

"At least they weren't Geese" muttered Remus, tossing something else into the trolley and shivering.

"Remus Lupin, are you afraid of Geese?" I asked, slyly.

"No" he said, unconvincingly. "They just annoy me".

"Alright then" I smirked.

"I am not afraid of them".

"Of course not".

"Dora".

"Remus".

He sighed loudly and continued down the aisle in a huff. I followed behind watching his every move. And I just couldn't resist...

"We can see them tonight, they'll probably be around the pond" I lied, knowing that the probability of them being there was slim. Mum probably put up barriers against them or something. He slammed down the packet of biscuits he'd been looking at (with little interest) and turned to me with blazing eyes.

"Dora" he growled, menacingly. I shivered. I loved it when he did that, though I'd never let on, or he'd stop doing it as punishment for my cheek.

"Yes" I answered, sweetly.

He sighed, and moved over to me, disregarding the trolley and putting his hands on my waist. He pulled me close to him and looked up and down the aisle. No-one was in this aisle at the moment, and I had to control my breathing otherwise it would have come out far to shallow for my liking. The scenarios running through my head at that moment would have made a Nun blush. Wow, weird metaphor...

"I am not afraid of Geese, I just don't like them" he whispered, against my lips. I sighed.

"Whatever you say".

And standing in the middle of a deserted food aisle, we kissed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my hands in his hair. All too soon he pulled away and I pouted. He looked a little red and I could tell he was embarrassed by our little PDA. I leant my forehead against his.

"Sorry I teased you".

"No worries" he coughed.

"Can we be done with shopping now?" I asked. He opened his mouth to speak, but a cough sounded from somewhere else entirely. We both turned out heads to the side and saw a little boy standing there, no older than six, coughing lightly and looking up at us in interest.

"Hello there" said Remus, smiling.

"Hello" said the little boy. "I'm lost".

"Oh dear. Can you remember who you were with" asked Remus, kindly, pulling away from me and kneeling down to the boy's level.

"My sister" the boy answered, shyly, before coughing again. Poor little thing.

"Well, I'm sure she can't be far. If we wait here, I'm sure she'll come along soon. What's your name?" said Remus, gently.

"Tom" he answered. "I ran away from my sister, I was bored".

"Well shopping does get rather boring at times, doesn't it?" said Remus, standing back up and looking down on the boy with a smile. I watched the whole thing in, dare I say it, fascination. The boy laughed.

"Tom" cried a girls voice, and looking up the aisle I saw a young girl running towards us. She had wore plain jeans and a football jersey, with her hair tied up in a bun. For some reason, I admired her messy appearance. "Oh Tom, there you are. You mustn't run off like that, you gave me a heart attack".

"I'm sorry" the boy said, pouting. The girl shook her head and took his hand before looking at Remus.

"Ummm..." she sounded awkward.

"Tom came wandering along the aisle so we told him to stay here until you came for him. I hope that's alright?" enquired Remus, kindly. The girl's features seemed to relax as he spoke and she looked at me with interest, before turning back to Remus.

"Thank you" she said. "It's not often you meet decent folk who'll look out for a little boy" she smiled. "Come on Tom" she said, and pulled him away, nodding at us as she left. I looked at Remus who looked and me and smiled.

"Hey", I looked back at the girl who had stopped just a way in front of us. "Cool hair" she said, before turning away and disappearing with Tom.

I blinked in surprise. Remus however, looked perfectly normal and comfortable, and nudged me from behind.

"Come on, thought you wanted to go home?". I began walking, pushing the trolley in deep thought.


Back at the house, with the shopping put away and a couple of hours to spare before we went to my parents, me and Remus curled up together on the sofa. His hands gently traced patterns up and down my leg, and his head rested against mine. In that moment, I was overcome with emotion and that this was reality. This was real, me and Remus, and I wrapped my arms around his waist tight.

"Hey" he breathed. "What's up?".

"What makes you think somethings up? I asked, turning my head to look at him.

"Well, you have me in a death grip" he joked, but I pulled my arms back quickly and bit my lip. "Hey, I didn't say I didn't like it. Just wanted to know if you were ok. Your very quiet".

"I'm fine, just tired and thinking to much" I mumbled, attempting a smile.

"Liar" he muttered. "I can tell when your lying to me Dora, whats on your mind? You can tell me".

"It's going to sound weird. I'm going to sound weird".

"Don't you always?" he teased. I squeezed his waist to tight and he choked. "Ok, ok, I was just messing. Come on, tell me anyway".

"Just today, it's been so domestic and perfect. Like something out of a dream but, it's real. Your real" I muttered.

"Well, I should hope so. Otherwise this right here would be a little creepy" he said, but I didn't laugh. I turned to him fully and looked him straight in the eye.

"Your mine" I whispered, "and I'm never letting you go".

"Good" he whispered, lifting a hand to my cheek and brushing it gently. I don't know what made me do it, but soon enough my mouth was attacking his eagerly. Every touch and every kiss made me believe this was real because when you've waited for something for a long time, and then you get it, sometimes you just can't believe in reality.

As we pulled away from each other, I re-adjusted myself so that I was laying with my head on his chest and closing my eyes.

"Don't you go to sleep, it's 3'o clock, which means we only have three hours until we go to your parents" Remus said.

"Don't care" I mumbled.

"Well I do" he said, nudging me. I groaned in annoyance. "Anyway, you never did tell me what your dad did for a living".

"And still does". I sighed, and sat up. "I call him 'The Inventor'. His shop produces prototypes of new products. He gets orders from companies when they want something new tested so they can see if it works with there products. His places is kind of like a workshop, but dad loves making things and using his brain to pick things to pieces and put them back together".

"Interesting".

"It is" I muttered. "I went to his shop a couple of times when I was a kid. It sure was something. And some of the stories he comes home with were great. Some companies really are stupid, like they want something that would never work, but they make him test it anyway".

"You seem very into it. Did you ever want to be like your dad?" he asked.

"Hell to the yeah. His job sounded brilliant, but as I got older I wanted different things. I wanted to be an Auror, God knows why" I mumbled.

"Because despite your complaining, you love your job. And your good at it" said Remus.

"And I look good in my uniform" I said, cheekily.

"That too". I laughed. "Anyway, you best start getting ready, you only have 2 hours and 43 minutes".

"I don't take that long" I said, indignantly, slapping his leg in a huff. He pushed me off the sofa onto the floor. "Hey, that wasn't nice". I got myself up off the floor and held out my hand to him, "I need a shower".

"Good to know".

"Do you need one?" I asked.

"Probably" he said, slowly. "Where's this going Nymphadora?".

"Conserving water?" I suggested, holding out my hand again. He took it.

"Alright, i'll bite" he said, heaving himself of the sofa.

"I hope so" I trilled, and he rolled his eyes. Typical banter. Typical reality.


Two hours and 40 minutes later, me and Remus apparated to my parents house, but not before picking up a bottle of wine on the way. Remus had been curious as to why I brought this particular bottle (it was slightly more bitter than most wines, and it was muggle) but he would find out in due course. The door swung open before I even knocked on it, evidence that the apparation alert charms worked.

My dad stood on the other side of the door, as round bellied and familiar as always.

"Hey Daddy" I said, jumping into my dads arms.

"Ah, hello baby girl" he said, pulling away and sizing me up. "Your too thin". I rolled my eyes.

"No, I'm not, your being silly" I argued. He laughed, and looked over my shoulder with a smirk on his face. I pulled away and slipped my hand into Remus's, he'd been watching us from just outside the door. I tugged him inside and shoved the door closed behind us.

"Dad, this is Remus. Remus, this is my dad, Ted Tonks" I introduced. Dad held out his hand and Remus shook it.

"It's good to meet you Sir".

"Please Remus, call me Ted. I haven't been called Sir since we had that apprentice in the shop" said Dad, shivering at the memories.

"And wasn't that a disaster" I muttered.

"What happened?" asked Remus, confused.

"Well, there was an 'accident' where every single shelf became unscrewed from the wall, and every project that we'd been working on smashed into a billion tiny pieces" said Ted, sadly. "Anyway, he's gone. Your here. And we best get in there before your mum goes completely mental".

"She wasn't already?".

"Hey, don't be cheeky" Dad said, then turned to Remus. "You have a lot to put up with my friend, Dora's attitudes are quite..."

"Quirky" offered Remus, "I know, but it makes life more interesting".

Dad smiled fondly. "It does".

"I brought this" I said, holding up a bottle of wine. My mum's favourite.

"Buttering her up Dora?" I stuck my tongue out and he laughed. "Come on through, I hope your hungry, she's cooked enough food to feed an army". He led the way into the kitchen, and I looked back at Remus and raised my eyebrows at him. He looked uncomfortable. I moved close to him and put my hand on the side of his face.

"Hey. Everything's going to be ok" I whispered. He placed his hand on top of mine then pulled it down to his lips.

"I know".

As I pulled him down the hall behind dad, we entered into the kitchen, or as I liked to call it, my mum's zone. It was rather big, with a dining area at one end and multiple cupboards and sides at the other. Mum was standing by the stove overseeing her cooking which smelt delicious. Remus thought so too.

"Smells delicious" he whispered in my ear.

"Thank you" said mum, without turning around, "it's a rather old recipe, one of Dora's favourites though I doubt she would attempt to cook it".

"I'm allergic to cooking" I said, cheekily. She turned round and smiled.

"Indeed", she smiled, "are you not going to greet your mum properly".

"Hey mum" I said, pulling away from Remus and going to hug her. Once my head was on her shoulder looking away from the men I whispered, "play nice".

"I always do" she whispered back, and pulled away smiling. Until she looked me up and down ofcourse. "Your too thin".

"Dad said the same thing, and like I told him, I'm fine" I said, sighing with amusement, before pulling mum over to Remus. Before I could formerly introduce them, they introduced themselves, and them mum did something that I never thought I would see.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Mrs. Tonks" said Remus, politely, though I could feel the tension. Ah yes, last time they spoke. I was in hospital... not good.

"And you. And I must apologise for last time, I was very rude Remus. I hope you will not judge me to harshly" she said.

"Of course not" he answered, and she smiled, before moving back to the stove.

"Well, dinner will be a little while yet, Dora, why don't you show Remus the rest of the house while you wait?" suggested mum, "Ted dear, I need your help".

"Yes ma'am" said dad, saluting my mum while her back was turned. He then rolled his eyes at me and I tried not to laugh as I pulled Remus from the kitchen. As we walked down the hall I started rambling about the rooms.

"In there is dad's study, basically just a small library with a chair stuck in it, and down there in the living room. That's all we have downstairs, the bedroom are upstairs and a bathroom. Ta-da, tour over, job done" I rambled. He smirked.

"What's in there?" he asked, pointing to the old battered door to the left of the lounge.

"Do you really want to see?" I asked, "it's nothing special, come on". I walked towards the door and opened it gently incase the door broke on me. Inside it was a tiny room with two doors in the floor.

"What are they for?" he asked.

"Help me open these and you'll see" I said, and together we pulled open a door each and revealed a dark staircase leading down. "It's got even freakier since the last time I saw it" I muttered.

"When was that?" he asked. Wow, lots of questions.

"When I was about eight" I said, "it's our basement, creepy place, never stored much down here, and it's always kept locked up".

"Hmmm, interesting" said Remus. I laughed and closed the door I was holding. Remus followed me and soon we were out of the room, back into the hall.

"Wanna check out upstairs?".

"May aswell" I asked, "why did your mum insist you show me around".

"She wants to wait to interrogate you over dinner" I said, without hesitating. Remus paled slightly. I rested my hand on his arms and rubbed it gently. "Don't worry Remus, you'll be fine. She's not that bad, you know. Once you get to know her ofcourse".

"Of course" he echoed. I knew what Remus was worried about, and tried to reassure him.

"Hey, I love you. And they will too" I whispered. "Now, I wanna show you my room, I decorated it myself so it's a bit weird".

My room was up the stairs and halfway down the hall between the bathroom and mum and dad's room. The door was shut, and an old faded weird sisters poster was stuck to the front with a permanent sticking charm. At the time, I'd done it to annoy mum, now it annoyed me. I opened the door quickly and led Remus in. The room was exactly the way I'd left it. I had a double bed which sat in the middle of the room, with black and white sheets. The walls were all white with black and white moving pictures on the walls and several pieces of wooden furniture painted black. I watch Remus walk around the room with an interested look on his face. I started looking over my old room, I'd wanted it to be modern and grown up, and I loved it. I wished my bedroom at my flat looked like this, and I found myself longing to live here again.

"Impressive" whispered Remus, smiling at me, "this is a beautiful room, Dora".

"I designed it with mum when I was sixteen, I wanted it to be modern and grown up" I sighed.

"Well, you achieved it" he said, sitting down on the bed, and patting the space beside him. I walked over and sat down next to him. "Who painted that?" he asked, pointing to a painting on a canvas. It was leaning against the wall because I was always to frightened that it would fall off the wall.

"I did" I whispered. "It's not very good". Remus got up and picked up my old painting and held it up to me. The picture was one I'd seen in a magazine, of a girl sitting on a porch holding an open umbrella over her head. It was badly copied, but mum had convinced me that it was good.

"Dora, this is great. I didn't know you could paint" he said, putting the painting down again.

"I can't, that was just something to do over the summer holidays. There's not much life in this village, so I had to do something. Don't look at it, it's stupid" I muttered. he came over to me and kneeled in front of me.

"It's not stupid" he said, "okay?". I nodded and he kissed me on the cheek, just as mum shouted up the stairs.

"Ah, we're being summoned" I said, jumping up and taking his hand. "We better go".

"I feel like a nervous teen again" muttered Remus, as we made our way downstairs. I giggled and moved into the kitchen, not really understanding him. The table was set on one side of the kitchen and dad was already seated. His head was resting on his hands and he was staring at my mum with sickly puppy dog eyes. Me and Remus sat down so I was sitting next to dad and Remus was sitting next to me.

"Dad, close your mouth, you'll get drool on the table" I said, sarcastically. Dad just laughed at me, and mum came over to the table with her wand held up, levitating four plates in front of her. Mum had made beef stew, which was one of her best dishes, and I loved it. Hopefully, this dinner would go smoothly. I crossed my fingers.

Towards the end of dinner, after some small talk, I was just sipping my butter beer when mum went and asked the question of doom.

"So Remus, what intentions do you have towards my daughter?". I choked on my drink in shock, and dad smirked. He was going to let mum get all this out of her system, I was going to be embarrassed to hell and Remus would run for the hills. man this was a bad idea. It was to soon, I should have left this for awhile. But no, I thought this would be a good idea...

"Mum" I said, quietly.

"Dora is my only daughter, I think as a mother I have a right to know what her, umm- partners intentions are" Mum said, haughtily to him, completely blanking me.

"Mrs Tonks, I know how you feel about me. And I don't blame you, I feel them about myself too. I know I'm not good enough for your daughter, and I never will be. But I do love her, and that in itself is a miracle, because I never believed I would find someone who I could love more than anything, and know she loves me back. I know I'm not a parents first choice of partner for there daughter, but I love her. And I want to be with her. I can't imagine myself without her" he said quietly, but firmly.

"Remus, I'm not judging you, I swear. But you've hurt my daughter once before. I know this because I have seen it. How can you be so sure you won't hurt her again? And it's not just you, what about the rest of the world. Her colleagues, her work, her friends" my mum stated. I felt like interrupting but as I went to my dad squeezed my knee cap in warning and Remus shook his head. They would be having this out, whether I liked it or not. So instead, I sunk back into my seat, and watched two of the people I loved most in the world, 'argue' over me.

"I can't be sure that I will never hurt her. I can't promise you that I won't, because there's always a chance that I might. In more ways than one" he said, quietly, "but I can promise you that i'll try my best not to hurt Nymphadora, and protect her from others who wish to hurt her".

"And her friends. Her work?" asked mum.

"Most of our friends who know us don't care. Though I am concerned about the Ministry, although they seem not to care, I am worried what will happen to Nymphadora if she is found with someone like me as a partner. I do not wish to compromise her, and she knows this, but she's stubborn" explained Remus plainly.

"Stubborn like her mother" said dad, pointily staring at mum. She shifted in her seat.

"I just want what's best for her" muttered mum, defensively.

"I understand that, and so do I. You must think it selfish, but I don't want to live without her. Not anymore" said Remus. He and my mum then had a bizarre sort of staring competition, before my mum nodded and looked away. i could see that was the end of it, and I was relieved. But I was also fuming.

"I can see that we've all finished dinner now. Remus, perhaps you'd join me in the garden for a stroll? And Dora, perhaps you could help your mother clear things away" said dad, sensibly, getting up. Remus nodded, and went to kiss me on the cheek before getting up, but seemed to think better of it and squeezed my hand instead, before letting my dad take him into the garden. Me and mum were left to clear up the plates, and wash and dry them by hand.

After about five minutes, I found myself watching Remus and dad talking in the yard, out of the kitchen window. As mum washed up, I dried up in silence.

"I know your mad with me" said Mum.

"I'm not mad with you" I lied.

"Your as bad as your dad when it comes to lying, Dora" she said, "look sweetheart, you have to see things from my point of view. I know he's a good man, but there are still issues sweetie".

"What issues mum?" I snapped.

"Don't Dora, you can't deny..."

"I'm not mum, I'm not. There's stuff you don't know, I love him mum, more than anything. And you know what, screw my job, and society. They can go to hell" I nearly shouted.

"Dora sweetheart, I didn't mean to upset you" she whispered. "It's just that I know how tough the wizarding world can be. And your my only daughter. I just don't want you to go through the same sort of prejudice that I did. That your dad did. It may not seem like it but I'm trying to protect you because I love you".

"I know how tough it's going to be, and we've only just started, and I know it's going to get harder, but I believe it's worth the risk" I said, "do you regret it? Choosing dad?".

"Of course not" came her immediate response.

"I just want you to be there for me, and even if you don't accept him, accept that I'm happy and that I'm willing to put up with whatever life throws at me, to be with him".

"It's going to take some time, I'm sorry. I guess I'm still stuck in my Black ways, but i'll try. Your happiness is important to me, so I guess I can try and be nicer. I just don't want to see you hurt. He hurt you once before, I don't know how because you won't tell me anything, but I know that he has".

"You can't protect me forever. Maybe I will get hurt. Maybe my heart will be shattered into a million tiny little pieces but that is my choice. I choose who I'm with and what i do and how I do it. And if I get hurt, I learn from it because it was my choice" I explained.

"How did you become so smart?" she asked.

"I had a great mum to teach me" I whispered, and then she did the unthinkable. She cried. I hugged her tight and she hugged me back, rubbing my back with her hand like she used to when I was a kid.

"Come and see me more often, please. I miss having my baby girl around, it feels like I'm losing you" she whispered, pulling away.

"Your never going to lose me mum" I smiled, "and thank you. I am still kind of mad at you, but I think I understand why". After that we carried on with the dishes, giggling and talking about the old painting in my room that Remus had found. My mind however, was elsewhere. I had thought about these things a hundred times over, and I got stick from Dawlish about it all the time. About everything really. And I knew werewolves were being investigated, and that being with Remus was possibly putting my career at risk, but I didn't care. I honestly didn't care.

When Remus and dad came back in, dad was smiling and Remus looked happier than he had before. Mum pulled him over to one side before we left, and dad did the same with me, whispering words of reassurance.

When we got home that night, Remus was very quiet, and I kept watching him as we got ready for bed. That was the first night we spent without talking to each other. The only comfort I could take from night was the fact that his arms stayed around me the entire night and he whispered' I love you' before turning out the lights.


"Robards is no good, at least Scrimgeour knew what he was doing" muttered Savage, grumpily. He was sitting on the spare chair in my cramped little office. I was pouring over some reports that I'd been given to check. So many attacks, hardly any arrests.

"We just have to do ours job Mark, best we can. Is Kingsley in today?" I asked.

"I believe he was in this morning, Jacob spoke to him" Savage said, swivelling on his chair, a pensive look on his face.

"How's things between you two?" I asked, Savage smiled happily.

"Things are good. What about you and Remus?".

"Very good" I said, slyly. Savage laughed. "We went to my parents for dinner last night".

"And how did that go?".

"It was... difficult. Mum doesn't really approve and it was awkward for quite a lot of it. I don't know, mainly I just wanna forget it, but some of the stuff she brought up has gotten to me a bit".

"Like what?" he asked, picking up my spare quills and flicking them across the desk.

"Just stuff, prejudices mainly. Remus being a werewolf mainly, I think...".

"I understand Tonks, and she does have a point" said Savage, "but she's a mother, they worry about us constantly. I'm sure things will be ok Tonks, just give her some time. What about your dad?".

"He seems ok with it. He whispered to me before we left that everything would be ok, as long as I was happy he'd be happy for me. He had a private talk with Remus though" I muttered more to myself than everything.

"I shouldn't worry about it then. Just take it one step at a time" Savage said, I nodded. "And now I'm bored".

"Go find something to do then" I muttered, turning back to my work. I needed to get this done before I left for the Order meeting tonight. As I began writing again, there came a knock at the door and Mark swivelled round to answer it. As the door slid open, I saw Dawlish standing there looking grim.

"You two, meeting in the old meeting room on the second floor, in ten minutes" he said, before storming off.

"Wait, why?" shouted Savage, but Dawlish ignored him and began knocking on other Auror office doors. Mark then turned to me, but the question died on his lips as I shrugged in confusion.

"Well, i'll quickly finish this off, and then we'll go down, yeah?" I asked.

"Sure".

Ten minutes later we walked into the old meeting room on the second floor, where it seemed every Auror in the Ministry had been assembled. Everyone was sitting in seat squashed around a large table. Some were sitting on the outskirts of other peoples chairs because there wasn't enough room. Several men were standing at the back of the room leaning against the wall. Me and Savage went to stand with them.

Robards then swept into the room and the lull of conversation died immediately. Every eye focused on him. He looked rather miserable to my eyes, but that may be the way his face is. I don't think I'd ever seen him happy.

"Due to the lack of progress and arrests within the last few months, the Ministry has decided that as a way of encouraging you all, you will each be given a target number for each week and if you reach the target you will be given bonuses. However, if you fail to reach your target your pay check will suffer for it" he stopped speaking. In the room there was a shocked and disbelieving silence, until the shout started of course.

"Thats preposterous".

"How dare they!".

"This isn't right, they can't expect us to work like this".

"How are we to catch a certain amount per week, are we being encouraged to arrest everyone who has had the finger pointed at them?" asked a man beside me. Everyone listened to this and turned straight to Robards, glaring. He was standing in front of us trying to look important, but he looked pathetic and small. Everyone in the room disliked him from this point.

"Are you having the same target then?" asked Savage from beside me.

"Well, I- I have different responsibilities than the rest of you" he stammered, and there were cries of disgust from all corners of the room. One by one people began to stand up, slam something and storm out. I was with them, me and Savage pushed ourselves off the wall and walked haughtily out of the room, and ability I'd inherited from my mother and as we threw Robards looks of disgust, he recoiled in fear. He was our head of department? Mundungus could do better.

"Thats disgusting. Downright dirty. How can they expect us to arrest a certain number of people, per person. Half the Wizarding World will be under arrest" snarled Savage. "And where the fuck is Jacob?".

"He didn't want to be in there" said a bloke walking in front of us. "He'd heard it all already, and come to blows with Robards over it. They were shouting at each other not 5 minutes before that sodding meeting".

"Good on him, that Robards is doing my head in. Got a little to big for his boots is what I say. He forgets he was 'one of us' not a year ago" muttered the man to the right of him.

"Hear hear" I snarled, angrily. "Robards was always a it, but to do this... you know, we live on that money. We can't have it taken away just because we don't get enough numbers. Some weeks we have loads of arrests, some we have virtually none. We can't fabricate criminals from nowhere".

"Exactly" agreed the first man who'd spoken. Now that I looked at him, I recognised him as Gareth Tate, and the man on his right was Edwin Hoare. "The Ministry has gone to the dogs if you ask me, lack of real leadership is what's missing. They say we're important yet they treat us like shit, it's a wonder we stick around. I been in this job for 30 years, you'd have thought that'd mean something".

"Evidently not"said Savage, sounding resigned. "I'm going to go check on Jacob, want to come Tonks?".

"No, I wanna get out of this place before I hex someone in rage" I seethed, and the others nodded as if agreeing that my violence was necessary. Which it was, what I wanted to do right now was hit something. I couldn't believe how we were being treated. "Write to me later, I wanna know what Jacob said to Robards" I said to Savage.

"Will do". After that, I sped towards the lift to get out of the building. So I would be at the meeting a little early, who cares. I certainly didn't. My anger was building up, I could feel it bubbling inside of me. I needed to walk first, get this anger out of my system. Walking out of the Ministry was a blur, a strange surreal blur. I couldn't remember anything. All I knew was that thirty minutes later I had apparated several times and walked around for miles until I found myself at a familiar yet unfamiliar spot. It was the play park just around the corner from Grimmauld Place, overlooked by the blocks of flats. I walked over the the rickety swing and sat down, twisting my fist around the cool metal chains and kicking at the ground with my scuffed trainer.

It had been night time the last time I'd been here, and that was two years ago. Why this spot had occurred to me I didn't know, all I knew was that alot had changed in the last two years. With everything. So many people had died over the last two years, more battles had been fought and hearts had been broken and repaired. The Order's numbers decreased, Death eaters activity was more open and the Ministry were slipping further down hill at such an alarming rate that even the oldest and loyalist of workers couldn't deny it. Everything had changed, and I didn't like it. I was never any good with change, I always had to try to hard to get through it.

I looked at the watch on my wrist, it was old and battered now, but still ticking away. I had five minutes until the meeting started and so I forced myself off of the swing and towards a secluded alley where I apparated from.

Arriving at the Burrow I walked around the building instead of going straight for the door. As I'd hope, Ginny was sitting on the seat at her bedroom window, reading something. She wasn't looking down, so I levitated myself up to her window and stood on the sill. I knocked three times and she jumped out of her skin, before pushing the window open and letting me in.

"Tonks, what are you doing?" she asked, half shocked, half amused. I jumped down from the window onto her bedroom floor, and steadied myself. "We do have a front door, you know?" she giggled.

"I'm aware" I smiled, "but I didn't know who was down there, and I don't think I can face anyone at the moment". She looked at me worriedly, and I quickly explained, "it's nothing bad, just work stressing me out. I'm afraid I may lash out at one of them".

"Well, you can stay in here until you feel better" she offered.

"Thanks Gin" I muttered, sitting down on the seat. "Are you ok?".

"I'm fine. Hermione's gone home now, wants to spend some time with her parents" Ginny explained.

"I promise next week I'll come over for a bit of girl time, ok?".

"Ok, thanks Tonks" said Ginny. "Now are you going to tell me what happened to make you angry?" she asked.

"Oooh, I shouldn't. It's top secret" I joked.

"Ahhh, come on. Please?" she practically begged, fluttering her eyelashes. I laughed and gave in, But instead of just telling her about the Ministry meeting from hell, I told her all about last night aswell, and she had some great words of fifteen year old wisdom to share with me on both subjects.

"The Ministry are just a bunch of old coots Tonks, you'll do brilliant anyway and they'll be looking like fools. And as for your mum and dad, there just being like any other mum and dad on the planet. Heaven knows my mum and dad fussed over me when I dated Michael, and Dean, and Harry. You just have to whack on a smile and kindly explain that it's none of there business, and they can either like it or lump it" she said, plainly. So plainly infact, that I laughed.

"Thanks Ginny, thats some great advice. Straight to the point".

"No point beating around the bush" she muttered. "Oh and by the way, your meeting is going to start in about ten seconds so you best get down there. Good luck, I have to stay up here".

"Thanks honey" I smiled. "See you next week, or later if you come down after the meeting and I'm still there. Love ya" I said, before racing out of the room and down the stairs. As I got down the stairs I walked towards the kitchen with a smile on my face. A smile that grew wider when I came face to face with those brilliant people in this world that cared for me and accepted me for who I was. And the man who loved me enough to put up with my mum. And I knew everything was, well, not going to be ok in a sense that the world was crumbling as we spoke, but ok for me and Remus, and who cares what others thought really? It was like Ginny said...

They could either Like it or Lump it.

I like some parts of this chapter and other parts I don't, but what do you think. So many of you add me to your favourites and subscribe, but hardly any of you share our thoughts. I'd love to hear them. Gurugirl xx