CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT

Lupin was starting to worry. Tonks's labor was lasting unusually long, and though Molly assured him this kind of thing happened often, considering magic would not help them here, it did nothing to quell the twisting, churning coils in his nauseous stomach.

There was no telling if their baby would be born…like him. Wolfish, with his tendencies.

Just that thought was enough to make poor Remus feel like he was going to be physically ill, though he shook his head to clear his mind and rid his stomach of the sickening feeling.

Tonks needed him. His wife needed him to be the strong one now for her, and he would.

She was not taking Ollie's abrupt departure to Hogwarts well, given his already emotionally compromised state, her tears rolling down silently with her cheeks, though Lupin supposed it was a combination of the pains of her contractions and Ollie's seemingly cold abandonment of her on the front steps of the porch of their cottage.

Merlin damn him, Remus thought, clenching his teeth in anger as he heard Tonks let out a muted cry through gritted teeth, sounding like a wounded animal in pain.

Ollie, Merlin damn that man, had better not do anything rash or Merlin help him, Lupin knew he was going to have to have words with Brennan upon his return later.

Mrs. Weasley hadn't hesitated to whisk Tonks upstairs to their bedroom, Remus right beside Tonks every step.

He felt Dora tense in his arms as each contraction took hold. At first, Tonks tried to bury her pains within her Auror training, fight the spasms, priding herself on ignoring the immense pain that wracked her way through her body, but that just wasn't possible as each contraction worsened and grew.

Tonks had taken to holding her breath in short spurts as if somehow, she thought by not breathing that would make the hurt stop, though her efforts were in vain.

"Molly," Tonks gasped weakly after what felt like several long moments in silence, with neither one of them speaking to break the tension in their bedroom.

"Mmm?" Mrs. Weasley murmured distractedly, a look of concern etched on her lined and matronly face, her shoulder-length ginger hair wild. "What is it, dear?"

Mrs. Weasley was, by rights, distracted, and rightfully so, Remus thought.

She fumbled the basin of water, spilling hot water onto their hardwood bedroom floor, nearly splashing the scalding water over all Lupin's trousers and sweater as he helped Mrs. Weasley conjure clean rags and extra blankets, extra pillows, anything he could to make his wife's labor easier, and had forgotten to heat the blankets on Lupin and Tonks's bed at least three separate times.

Remus could see it in her eyes. All Molly wanted was to heed the summons that Professor Snape had sent out, the call to arms to go to Harry. To fight alongside Arthur and the rest of her family.

The worry must have been wrought in her eyes because Tonks spoke up, her words faint and barely above a whisper before Remus could suggest that she leave to fight, Tonks said it before he could.

"Go," she urged, using her elbows to prop herself up on the bed. "Be with your family, Mrs. Weasley. Help Harry, look after Ollie for me. T—tell him for me, if he—if he dies, I'll—I'll find a way to resurrect him, just so I can kill him myself," she threatened, though a hint of a worried little smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she powered through another contraction. "Please, Molly," Tonks begged tearfully. "I—I will be fine. Rem is here with me," Tonks whispered.

As if to prove her point, she shakily reached out a hand and squeezed onto Lupin's hand, hard enough to break his fingers. He grimaced at the gesture, pulling a face, though Remus said nothing at all.

Mrs. Weasley bit the inside wall of her cheek, a pained look in her normally kind light brown eyes.

Clearly, the aging witch was torn between her desire to stay and help Tonks with the birthing process, or to Disapparate and add another wand to the battle.

Lupin let out a tired sigh through his nose and clapped a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving it a light reassuring squeeze.

"Go," he commanded, repeating Tonks's demand. "I'm staying, Molly. Be alongside your family this night. They need you. Fight for the ones you love and hold most dear. Dora and I will be fine," he emphasized, though right at that moment, Tonks let out another cry of pain.

He flinched, even as a muscle in his jaw and behind his eyelid twitched as he saw Mrs. Weasley cast her gaze nervously between Tonks and Remus, faltering in the decision.

"Don't make us…say it…again…" Tonks ordered, her voice fading as another contraction threatened to snake its way throughout her body, keeping her eyes squeezed shut as she collapsed her head back against her pillow, though continuing to keep her eyes closed, Dora allowed the faintest ghost of a smile to flit across her face as she silently nodded her agreement.

Molly sighed, something within the matriarch of the Weasley family giving way as her shoulders slumped in defeat and she nodded, turning her back on Remus and Tonks to make downstairs, her hand on the doorway to steady herself as she paused a moment.

"I'll send word to Andromeda to come and provide help before I go," she murmured, glancing back at Remus, biting her bottom lip as she regarded the man whom she considered like one of her own sons, before offering him and his wife a wan smile. "You're going to be just fine, Tonks," Molly soothed. "Another few hours, and you'll be holding your newborn daughter or son in your arms for the very first time. The pain makes it worth it, dear. You'll see. Are you sure you don't need me here to help, Remus?" she tried again, biting down on her bottom lip as she turned towards Lupin for confirmation, who silently shook his head and waved her away with a brush of his hand.

She sighed, carding her fingers through her fiery ginger hair. "Very well. I'll go, but I'll be back as soon as I can. You'll take good care of her, Remus?" she asked softly.

Lupin nodded. Of course, he would. Dora was his wife. What kind of a question—

But Molly did not give Remus a chance to respond as she turned away from him. There was the familiar crack! as Molly turned on the heel of her show and promptly Disapparated until it was just Remus and Tonks alone in their cottage.

Pensively, Lupin scanned the entire vicinity of their bedroom, looking for something—anything—that he could grab he hadn't already thought of to help Dora.

Nervous with concern for Tonks, he leaped off the edge of the bed, painfully wringing his hands together. He—but Merlin's Beard, he wasn't sure if he could do this! What were they thinking, Mrs. Weasley, needed to be here to help his wife.

He was no skilled Healer or Muggle doctor. Far from it. What was he supposed to do?

"Remus?" Tonks asked, concerned.

The panicked question that manifested his fear was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Can't you just…can't you just hold it in, Dora?" he begged pitifully, biting his lip.

Remus didn't even have to look to see Tonks's incredulous, horrified look as she stared at him with her wide, almond-shaped gray eyes, as though Remus had spontaneously sprouted antlers.

"No, Remus! I can't! I...I would if I could, you know that but...I...don't...have control over this..." she cried exasperatedly through locked teeth and rooted jaw, throwing her head back, eyes squeezed shut as she sensed another contraction coming.

Restless and agitated, wishing for nothing more than the pain to stop, Tonks painstakingly heaved herself off the edge of the bed, both hands on her stomach, and restlessly paced their bedroom floor to try to walk off the pains and distract herself.

"B-but this—this doesn't happen this fast, no one has babies this quick!" Lupin yelled, feeling a surge of a panic prick at his heartstrings, his heart thrumming against the confines of its cage, and Remus felt certain he was about to have a bloody heart attack.

Tonks glowered at Remus with such venom in her flashing grey eyes that rivaled the finely polished metal suits of the knight's armor of old that guarded the Great Hall back at Hogwarts.

"Our baby is coming, Remus. It's just you and me here, like it or not, I—I need you to be calm if you're going to stay here and help me. Please, Remus," she begged, whisper-hissing her words through clenched teeth, in clear pain.

It did not escape Remus's attention that by some miracle of Merlin, her light ash brown hair had miraculously changed color to a vibrant, rich red hue.

She could have passed for Ginny Weasley's older sister, and it did not take an intellectual genius like Professor Dumbledore to know that Dora was worried about the Weasley family, especially Molly and Ginny, who she thought of as a maternal figure and a younger sister. Lupin felt his lips part open to speak as he searched Tonks's nervous face.

However, her face became crestfallen as her painful spasm passed, and her wavy tresses reverted to a light ash brown in color again.

Through her haze of brief, flickering anger at his plea to keep her body from doing what it was inclined to do naturally in order to bring their child into the world, he saw Dora's fear.

Both of them jumped as a clap of thunder rent the otherwise silent air outside of their cottage, and howling wind had begun to pick up as the sky darkened.

A storm was coming, and there was nothing now could be done to stop it.

Tonks and Remus both paused to look out the window at the pitch-black sky, equal expressions of worry taut on their faces.

The thunder seemed to crack the air as if the very heavens might split apart. It rolled like the ash could of a volcano, becoming a rolling booming rumble. It declared to all the raw power of nature and gave fair warning of the wrath that was to come.

Tonks was the first one to break the silence.

"Ollie. I...I'm scared for him, sweetheart. And Harry, oh, Harry, what he must be feeling right now, if he's even still alive, Remus," Tonks sobbed. "M—Mrs. Weasley and the others. Sirius, your father," she breathed, slowly turning to regard her husband with red-rimmed irises, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. "What if they…what if they don't…I don't think I can…wait here and not know what's..."

But her quiet voice cracked, and Tonks could not finish her sentence.

Lupin did not immediately respond, not sure what to say to put Dora at ease.

Worry wormed its way through his churning stomach as he thought of Harry, of Sirius, their family and friends fighting for their very lives to protect Hogwarts, that sacred place which had become like a second home to him, and for him to not be there…

No. James's voice spoke up, uncharacteristically gruff at the back of his mind. You're needed here, Moony. You're about to become a father. There is nothing more important than this. Tonks needs you to help her through this. This is perhaps one of the most defining and important moments of your life. You are needed here, Remus.

Remus nodded silently; Lily's quiet susurrations joined her husband's somber advice.

James is right, Rem. Harry is well-looked after at Hogwarts. Sirius, Dumbledore, and the others are watching him. You'd regret it forever if you missed the birth of your child. It's a truly magical moment, holding your son or daughter in your arms for the first time, and your wife can't do this on her own. You need to be here.

When, by some miracle of Merlin, Lupin did manage to find his voice, even he was momentarily surprised by how confident he sounded.

"Harry is the best hope we have, Dora. Trust him. Harry is going to be fine. The others will make sure he's safe."

His voice trailed off as he fell silent, turning back towards Tonks, not liking how pale she was looking.

Nervous with concern for his wife, Remus felt like he was hardly able to breathe as he guided her towards the edge of their bed to sit down, waving his wand and conjuring extra blankets.

Tonks's hands clutched onto fistfuls of their bedsheets, her face scrunched uptight as another contraction threatened to tear her insides in half, her face already wearing the newfound fear of an expectant mother preparing to bring her child into the world on this storming, black April's evening.

"I need to find you something to eat, sweetheart," Lupin explained softly, turning away for a moment to head downstairs to the kitchens. "To keep up your strength."

But Tonks shook her head, beads of sweat starting to perspire and throng on her brow, a curl of her hair tumbling in front of her face as she did so. "I'm not hungry."

Her ashen expression and the way she was biting down hard on her bottom lip showed Lupin nausea his poor wife was currently experiencing, and he ached for her.

Were that he could bottle up the pain that she was feeling in a vial and keep it for himself to save her the physical anguish of not having to feel it for herself, then he would do it.

However, since no such magic existed, Lupin recognized with a heavy heart that there was little else he could do for his wife other than to help her in whatever way he could, though Tonks's refusal of food caused Remus to grow even more worried.

"But you've not eaten breakfast or lunch today, Dora," he reminded her.

Tonks let out a tiny sigh and merely proceeded to look at her husband incredulously.

"We'll be fine, Rem, both of us," Tonks reassured Remus quietly, resting her hands on top of her swollen abdomen, her eyes drifting lovingly down to rest at her stomach before lifting her chin upwards and gazing at Remus affectionately.

Remus stifled his tiny groan of frustration that his offer to find his wife something to eat was denied.

He searched urgently about their bedroom for something he could offer to care for his pregnant wife's needs, trying to think of something Molly hadn't already thought to conjure before she'd fled to go be alongside her family at Hogwarts.

Blankets, a basin of hot water, a glass of ice water on the night table by her side of the bed, though he planned to have her lay in the middle in order to provide as much room for the birth of their child as possible.

"Rest then, Dora, take deeps breaths, nice and slow," Lupin heard himself murmur, painfully twisting his fingers together, his nails digging into his palms tightly.

Hard enough to pierce his calloused skin. It hurt, but he ignored the pain.

Lupin knew he had to say something—anything—to ease Tonks's mind to try to take her mind off the pains her body was undergoing.

"What can I do for you, Dora?" he begged. "I—I don't know what you want me to do, what do you need me to do?"

His voice was so panicked, that his words tumbled unchecked from his lips as a steady stream of strung together words that were laced together as a shaking fragment.

Remus turned and smiled reluctantly at Dora, though it did not little to moderate his fears.

Tonks was quiet for a moment, not looking directly at Remus but instead out the window.

Her brows were furrowed in a concentrated and contemplative frown as she forced her mind to try to focus on something else other than her crippling contractions.

When she spoke, it was through gritted teeth, as though every word that left her mouth was causing her great pain.

"Ollie," she panted, gasping for breath in the midst of her spasmodic, jerking reactions. "He—he left us. He left us!" she cried, bordering near pure hysteria at this point, sniffling once or twice as she blinked back angry tears with a well-practiced flick of her finger, ducking her head so that Remus would not see, though it was already too late. "What if that was his plan all along?" Tonks wailed.

The heart-wrenching cry of agony that left Tonks's chest, throat, and lips tore Lupin's own heart to shreds as he met her gaze, sitting with her on the edge of their bed.

Tonks turned her head away, though Remus was not having it as he lifted up his hand and cupped her chin firmly in his strong grip, turning her head back around so that Tonks was forced to meet his gaze and was able to tear her gaze away from him.

"Don't talk like that, Tonks. Listen to me, Dora. Ollie is going to be just fine, sweetheart. Have faith. None of this negative talking of what you think he may or may not do to himself is helping you, Tonks," he answered, unable to keep the note of bewilderment out of his voice. "I don't want to hear you talk that way about our friend, Dora. Ollie knows what he's doing. What, do you really think that he would volunteer to go fight because, without her, he feels…?"

Remus's voice cracked as he trailed off, not wanting to say what he was implying.

But Tonks sensed his thoughts, finishing his statement for him, frowning through her tears.

"Like nothing, Remus. Yes." Tonks's voice was so soft, so faint and barely above a whisper, that Lupin almost missed it. "I'm scared for him, Rem. What Ollie's gone through in his life is unbelievably cruel, and this…I…don't know what to do for him, how we could possibly help him unless Jameson decides to come back," she confessed.

The moment Remus heard his wife's muffled, half-choked sob that escaped from the back of her throat, he did not hesitate to hold her as tightly as he dared, careful to be mindful of her swollen stomach, wanting to protect his wife and unborn child, running his hands through Dora's wavy light ash brown tresses that for a moment, looked like that of his own, minus the flecks of grey scattered throughout his hair.

"Hush, love," he soothed, whispering his words into the shell of her ear, his voice soft and reserved. "I'm right here, Tonks. I'm not going anywhere. Ollie's going to be just fine, you hear me?"

Tonks swallowed down hard past the lump that had formed in her throat, hollowing and constricting it until it felt like she could no longer breathe, and the young witch and expectant mother could no longer hold back her tears, sobbing openly in her husband's arms and clinging to him as if he were the only thing left in this world.

The thought of their family, friends, fighting at Hogwarts, and the ambiguity of not knowing if they were alive or dead was torture for her.

It hurt her so much that it physically ached, and she had not the power to stop nor prevent any of it from happening.

Tonks, perhaps for the first time in her entire adult life, did not know what to do.

She wanted everything to turn out all right, for her and Remus's baby to be healthy, no lycanthropic tendencies, though she knew the two of them would love it no less than if he or she did, for their family, the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Lyall, Ollie, Norah, to come home from Hogwarts alive and unscathed. For Lord Voldemort to be dead, his reign of terror throughout Great Britain and Europe ended for good.

Ollie, poor sweet Ollie had been heartbroken. He had formed an unspoken bond with Jameson during their time in the Forest, though what words had been exchanged between the two of them, only Norah and Ollie knew for sure, she knew he cared.

Maybe…maybe even dared to love the young blonde werewolf, not caring for her lycanthropic condition, much as she had learned to overlook Remus's condition, though Norah's thoughts on the matter still remained a mystery, though something within her told Tonks she had fled because of that fact.

And now that perhaps the one good thing in his life escaping Crouch's clutches aside from getting Tonks back in his life as his friend, and Lupin as a friend now, too, was gone, which left poor Ollie with almost nothing.

At this point in his life, what else was left for him, but that?

"W—we h—have to go back, Remus." Tonks pulled herself out of Remus's grasp and made to remove herself from his hold, standing up from the bed with difficulty. "I should never have let Ollie go alone. Who knows what he's going to do to himself?"

But before Tonks could shuffle painstakingly slow towards the door, Lupin caught Tonks gently around the waist and pulled her back to him, forcing her to sit back down.

One, because she was pregnant and they were in no condition to go anywhere near the castle, and two, his wife needed to hear what he was about to say about Ollie.

"Let him go, Dora," Remus began slowly, his light brown eyes glistening with unshed moisture that was not exactly tears, per se, but a melancholic sadness, nonetheless. "Let him be. This was his choice, Tonks. We could not force him to stay, you know that, love."

Tonks blinked owlishly at Lupin as confusion swam in her tear-filled, red-rimmed gray irises. She shook her head. "We—we have to go, Remus. I can't just stay here—"

"Yes, you can," Remus demanded, the tiniest growls of frustration escaping his lips as he held onto her left hand and gave it a light but firm squeeze. "You're pregnant, Dora, in case you've forgotten. Our—our baby is coming tonight. You're in no condition to go anywhere near Hogwarts tonight, and neither am I, sweetheart. No. We're staying right here. End of this discussion and I won't argue with you about this."

He spoke with a finality in his quiet, reserved tones that told Dora better than to argue, though her gray, almond-shaped eyes remained wide in confusion and horror.

"Wh—what are you saying?" she breathed, her voice faint. "That I just let him?"

"Yes." Remus sighed painfully, bringing one of his hands to rest on her swollen stomach, the other pressing in gently against the back of her hair as he pulled her close. "Think of it for a moment, Dora. Would you want to live if something happened to take away the only thing that made this world bearable? Tell me. If you were in his position, if…if something ever happened to me, with no one else who cared or loved you as you were, would you want to continue in a world that hates you, despises you, Dora?"

"Don't say that!" Tonks protested, as gently as she could, gently pounding one of her fists against his shoulder in grief as tears poured down her cheeks.

Not hard enough to hurt Lupin, but enough to get her intended message across.

That she could not bear to hear such things coming from him.

"What about me, Remus? Or you, or Charlie? Is it not enough for Ollie to—to have friends like us in his life? He could do that to us. To take his own life with no regard for the pain he'd cause us is despicable, Remus. Ollie isn't hated or despised. Y—yes, he was a Slytherin, a—and Crouch abused him all those years, b—but he's getting help! He's getting better!" she cried, sniffling once as she cried. "He's got friends who love him, care for him. That—that should be enough!"

"But it isn't enough. We simply are not enough for him, Dora. He wants more out of this life. Norah could have given that for him if she would have stayed, but she didn't, Tonks. Like it or not, Ollie Brennan has only us in this world, and I do not believe we are enough for him anymore. It was his choice to return to Hogwarts, not ours, Dora," Remus spoke up calmly, bothered by his wife's silent crying spell, loathe to see her shed tears, and knowing there was little else he could do to stop it.

Words would not come to him as he searched his wife's nervous face as she rose gingerly from their bed, moving to stand by the window to watch the storm raging war against the elements outside.

He needed no skills as a Legilimens to tell Tonks worried.

Tonks shook her head, ducking her head, not wanting to accept her husband's harsh but true words, as tears flowed down her cheeks, showing no signs of stopping.

The young witch did not want to admit it to herself, but she knew Rem was right.

As always. She had perhaps foolishly believed that Ollie could move on from his torment, with their help and the help of a licensed counselor sent to his new flat in London, and with frequent home visits from Charlie, Bill, Mr., and Mrs. Weasley.

Anything to remind the man that he was loved. That he could live a normal life now that the Obscurus attached to his body and soul had been successfully removed.

Even one without Jameson by their side. He'd lived so much of his life following their graduation from Hogwarts imprisoned, within the walls of his abusive family home, and then later, unbeknownst to her, at the hands of Crouch in his dungeons.

And the one thing that had the potential to show him that not all was lost, was gone. Vanished.

Had fled from Hogwarts that night following her transformation without so much as a single word to either one of them where she was going.

According to Minister Scrimgeour, she had accepted the job at the Ministry and had never missed a day, but considering they worked in completely different departments, two floors down from each other and held varied schedules, Tonks had never seen if Norah had thrived in her new environment in polite society at work.

With Norah gone, not knowing if she was coming back anytime soon, and with Remus and Tonks about to move to Hogwarts in a few more months for the start of the school term, not to return to their cottage save for holidays and when school was out of term, Ollie would not know what to do with himself when it was just him by himself alone. He would never be the same. Ollie had no one else, not really. He was alone.

The fact remained that she and Remus were not enough for him anymore.

"Then, what do we do, Remus?" Tonks begged, pleading with her husband to provide an answer that she could understand. "Do we…do we just let him go, Rem?"

"He'll come back, Dora," Lupin reassured, holding her tighter and stroking the back of her hair gently, providing as much support as he could, while also taking comfort in knowing that Tonks and their baby was safe, feeling, just for a moment, relieved that his wife who he loved more than anything, and their baby, whenever it decided to make its way into this world, was out of danger's way and safe in his arms.

Tonks parted her lips open slightly to speak, though before she could say whatever was on her mind, a pained grimace painted her pale features, twisting and contorting it, as yet another violent spasm, this one painful, wracked its way through her body.

She reached out to latch onto the small night table next to the bed for support and stumbled in the process, losing her balance and would have fallen to the ground had Lupin not shot out an arm to catch Tonks in the process, holding her in his arms until she could stand upright and steady herself. Almost sanguinely, Tonks lifted her head.

For a moment, there was nothing between them. Just them, and it was as if all the pains and hurts the two of them had experienced within that first year of knowing each other had never happened, though as soon as the unspoken moment passed between them had come, it was gone as they were reminded of the life they had created that was demanding to be born.

Tonks squeezed her eyes tightly shut and groaned as another pain threatened to consume her entire being.

Pulling herself back and out of Remus's ironclad grip, her jaw dropped open slightly in shock as her eyes traveled to the floor.

Furrowing his brows in a frown, Lupin followed Tonks's gaze downward and realized the cause of his wife's rapidly paling face and dismay. A large puddle of clear liquid was gathering at her feet. Her water had broken.

Their baby was coming soon. Tonight.

"Merlin's Beard, ugh, why now? Molly—Molly should—should be here with us, Rem," Tonks groaned tearfully, fear laced throughout her voice, her gray eyes showing the panic that her heart was so clearly beginning to feel as it pounded against her chest.

She waved her wand wordlessly, exhaling a tense sigh of relief as the mess at her feet vanished. "I—I'm sorry, Rem, I—I didn't mean to—" she started to say apologetically, but Lupin held up a hand and cut her off, shaking his head vehemently. "I'll...I won't push," she whispered through clenched teeth. "I'll make sure it doesn't come out. I can...I can wait until Molly or my mum gets here..." Tonks moaned, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Don't apologize, Dora," he murmured lowly, whispering it into the shell of her ear, one hand firmly on her shoulders. "You have nothing to apologize or be ashamed for, sweetheart. This is natural, love. It's your body's natural reaction to what's happening. Try to stay calm if you can, just breathe, deep breaths, nice and slow, Dora, that's it," he murmured, and unwilling to be patient any longer, he carefully steered Tonks towards their bed, feeling Tonks tensing in his grip as her body betrayed her.

As difficult as a choice it was for both of them to remain behind, waiting within the walls of their cottage for news from Hogwarts, of Harry, their family and friends, they had no other choice.

Both of them knew there wasn't much time left. Dora's delivery was not going to wait for the Battle of Hogwarts to be over, for Molly to return to them and help them with the birth.

They would have to bring their baby into the world together, alone, and in their own home.