1O5

Tonks didn't think she could stand the bloody waiting for much longer. Her mother was inside, Merlin bless her, watching Teddy, while she stood out on the front porch of her and Remus's cottage, biting down on her lip. She painfully twisted and wrung her hands together, feeling a sheen of sweat start to exude on her temples and drip down the sides.

Tonks could not recall a time when she had ever been more terrified, thinking that her time in the Forbidden Forest against a number of creatures, that strange white phantom light that had led her astray, the Acromantula, the centaurs, Barty Crouch Jr., Umbridge. They paled in comparison to what she was currently feeling now. Tonks felt utterly panic-stricken, and not even the feeling of little Ptelea grazing her cheek with the leaves on his head was doing little to comfort her, though, on a good day, it usually worked.

"Something's wrong, Ptelea. They should have been back by now. Something's happened to Ollie," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to focus to see if she could hear Ollie's thoughts. Nothing but silence.

Her concern for her friends was overpowering her desire to go inside and fetch a jacket or sweater to fight against the nighttime chill. The tiny little spritely Bowtruckle resting on Tonks's shoulder let out a tiny, muted chirp, and even Ptelea was worried for Remus and the others.

Ignoring her pet's concerning squeaks and chirps as he hopped up and down on her shoulder, Tonks swallowed down hard and returned her attention to looking out at the woods that bordered the edge of their home's backyard.

You can feel it. Something's wrong, her conscience offered from the dark recesses of her mind, for the first time in a long time, she did not hear Ollie's voice. This was never good when she couldn't read Ollie's mind, it meant her best mate was trying to conceal something from her, and whatever must have happened to Norah was enough to cause him to feel such pain.

Enough to make him decide he could not burden her with it, thereby concealing it from her by shutting Tonks out completely.

Her guilt consumed her at the very thought, and she hated not knowing.

"I should have gone with you, Ol." Hot tears stung and blurred at the limits of her hazy, blurry vision, and she blinked them back, swallowing down hard past the lump in her throat. Of course, even as she spoke the words, the thought sounded foolish.

Tonks had been in no condition to go anywhere near Hogwarts tonight, and neither had Remus. Tonks bit down even harder on her bottom lip and nervously fidgeted with the plain yellow gold wedding band on her left ring finger.

The woods that bordered behind the edge of her and Remus's small cottage exuded a sort of intimidating aura as she scanned the tree line, looking for any sign, a movement, listening for the familiar crack! of someone Apparating, praying it would be Remus with Ollie and Norah.

Though as Tonks's sharp, inquisitive eyes watched and waited for any sign of her husband's return with her best mate and Norah, a certain uneasiness filled her chest, and she bit the wall of her cheek in a panic.

She rose a slightly shaking hand to one of her tired eyes and rubbed slowly over the smooth surface of her skin, praying that, depending on the extent of the severity of Norah's wounds and assuming that Remus was bringing the blonde werewolf back here for treatment, it wouldn't wake Teddy, though she supposed all they'd have to do is cast the Muffliato Charm on the door of their spare bedroom on the first floor.

A worried, scattered sigh managed to escape Tonks's cracked lips. Her hand moved to her neck, and rubbed it gingerly, while she watched. And she waited. And waited. And waited. A minute, an hour, an eternity, it did not matter, it was entirely too long, and Norah was dying.

Tonks let out a shudder as everything felt like it was laced with the biting feeling of the bitter cold air, though she lacked the strength to wave her wand and conjure a blanket or a spare jacket to snuggle into.

The bitter breeze hung on her porch, clinging to her, chilling her bones. The material of her simple black t-shirt and her jeans felt heavy. Her body was left feeling fatigued and weak, though Tonks had to remind herself she'd only given birth not even a few hours ago, she was not about to remain sleeping in their nice, warm bed without knowing how Ollie was.

Tonks originally was going to not bother to change out of her pajamas, though considering she had more or less commanded Remus to bring Norah and Ollie back here, she figured it wouldn't do for her best mate and the object of his affections to see her in ratty old pink pajamas.

A hooting noise nearby elicited quite the reaction from the frazzled young witch, causing poor Tonks to jump and shove her knuckles into her mouth to keep from screaming. Teddy had just gotten to sleep… She squinted her eyes, straining to see into the night sky, and then she saw it.

It was an owl that belonged in the paintings of a child's book.

The creature's ear-like tufts were reminiscent of a teddy bear, yet it started with yellow eyes befitting a witch's cat. His plumage was a mottled grey-brown, as such he was almost blending into the gathering gloom of nightfall.

Then he let out a series of low hoots, four, possibly five, and before opening out large and rounded wings. In-flight the only sound was the rhythmic beating of the air, and once he soared high it was carried away on the breeze, too quiet to alert any prey. This was a predator capable of taking down mammals larger than itself, but perhaps tonight it would content itself with fresh rodents.

Tonks shuddered as her stomach lurched and she almost gagged at the memory of Norah eating a roasted rat on a spit over the campfire the first night she had met the feisty blonde werewolf in the Forbidden Forest.

Her face contorted into a twisted, pained grimace as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, willing the awful visions of the She-Wolf eating the rat to leave her mind, and hopefully, calm down her swooping, nauseous stomach.

She swore she tasted bile as the bitter stuff settled on her tongue.

Not in the mood for this right now, Tonks pulled a face and forced herself to swallow it, re-focusing her gaze out at the sleepy little village before her. The air was chilled as a bitter spring breeze wafted through their village as the sleepy town rested peacefully through the early morn. Not a single voice or sound could be heard aside from the occasional hooting of the owl that had come to deliver to Tonks a letter.

The swaying creaks of the tall dark oak trees that lined the village filled her eardrums as well, their leaves and boughs swaying in the breeze. Tonks furrowed her brows into a frown as the Barn Owl held out its leg, and she swore, having to dip into the pockets of her jeans for a Galleon, the owl's token payment for delivering this piece of mail to her.

Her frown deepening as she, with shaking fingers, unsealed the envelope, effectively breaking the wax seal with her fingernails, Tonks froze as her eyes scanned the contents of the letter that was not for her.

"Oh, Merlin damn me to hell, why now? Ugh, this can't be really happening to you, Ollie! Why now?" she cried.

The letter was intended for Ollie, though how its sender knew where to find her best friend, she did not know, and it was not going to be news that her friend was going to like. Tonks let out a muffled little whimper that sounded more like a whine as she debated whether or not to tell Ollie first thing when he and Remus and Norah returned as she begrudgingly pocketed the parchment.

Later, she decided firmly, set in her resolve. He's too worried about Norah to focus on this. I'll…I'll tell him tomorrow when the time is right.

The moments out on the porch of their cottage passed by so Merlin-damned bloody slow, that Tonks could hardly bear the waiting.

Everything was still. She was still, and then—

'Pop!' A sudden, loud, almost ear-shattering crack! of someone Apparating nearby startled poor Tonks so badly she faltered backward.

"Here! Into the house! Quickly!" shouted a familiar voice, her husband's, rough, coarse, laced with the briefest tinges of uncertainty and fear, and Tonks heard herself breath an immense sigh of relief as Remus and Ollie (who appeared to be carrying a dark bundle of some kind) and none other than Professor Snape came into her line of sight as the trio turned the corner.

Ollie sported a rather nasty looking cut above his left browbone that was slowly trickling blood down his cheek, and he was looking rather emaciated and peaky, but otherwise, unharmed, and Remus, naturally, not having gone to Hogwarts, was naturally just fine.

Tonks's already pale face immediately drained of what little color was left upon her gaze fixating on Norah's unresponsive form in Ollie's arms, and before she could so much as open her mouth and ask what the hell happened, a guttural, choked pain emitted from the back of Jameson's throat, and upon seeing her limp figure, barely alive, in Ollie's arms, was enough to send her mind into a fresh state of urgency and panic, and she was suddenly frantic at seeing Norah's condition.

"Oh, my Merlin," she moaned. "Into the house!" Her eyes desperately searched Ollie's tear-filled sky-blue orbs for an explanation, and found none, as her friend was too fixated on the young blonde bridal-style in his arms. "What's wrong with—oh, my God, her leg!" Tonks cried, scrunching her nose as the scent of burnt flesh filled her nostrils.

The She-Wolf's poor right leg was practically charred, burnt beyond recognition, though hopefully, Snape could save Norah's life.

Her stomach heaved, swooping and churning, and she almost gagged as the disgusting stench of burnt flesh and hair reached her nose, and she shot out an arm and braced herself against the wooden pillar of their cottage's porch.

She dry-heaved and gagged at the horrible smell, the thick scent of burnt, charred flesh and singed bits of Norah's hair filled her nostrils, but nothing came up, thank Merlin. Coughing, a hand over her mouth, Tonks shakily straightened up as her stomach gave one or two good final lurches at the disgusting smell flooding her wildly flaring nostrils.

Ollie pointedly refused to answer her question about Norah and desperately turned towards Remus, who was handling the situation with much more tact and composure than Tonks was at the moment, though just barely.

"Into the house," Remus commanded gruffly, though his voice shook at the utterance of his quiet words. "Take a left, down the hall, third door to the right is our spare bedroom. You—she can stay here, Ollie. We'll prepare a place for you to sleep."

His tone bordered on that of finality, as though Remus was not about to entertain the idea of Norah and Ollie staying anywhere else but here while she recovered from her injuries. Tonks shot Remus a grateful look with her eyes.

After all that Norah and Ollie had done for them, it was the very least they could do. Norah had managed to save Teddy's life.

They owed her one. Ollie gave a curt nod, desperately and silently trying to thank Remus with his eyes for his gratitude at allowing Norah to recover here.

Tonks opened her mouth to speak and let out a muffled squeak as she felt Severus Snape's shoulder accidentally brush against hers as his brisk footsteps followed Ollie up the steps of their porch and in the house.

"Wait! Please! What's wrong with her? What happened?" Tonks cried, her eyes wild with panic, and her fear was not assuaged, not even when she felt Lupin's gentle hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Remus, tell me…is she…is Norah going to make it? And Ollie, is he hurt too?" She visibly winced, hearing the faltering crack and dip in her voice.

"She fell from the Astronomy Tower, Tonks, Norah burnt her leg badly, and has a broken wrist, and Greyback, he—he injured her ribcage, pierced her skin with his own claws, Dora."

The look of disgust on Remus's face was unparalleled, and Tonks felt her stomach lurch. He let out a sigh and glanced towards her, shooting her a small half-smile of reassurance, though it did not reach her husband's eyes.

"She—she's going to make it, I hope. Severus will tend to her, love, she—she's going to be fine, Dora. I don't think Ollie's hurt. Shaken up, but unharmed, sweetheart," Remus explained, giving her a brief but affectionate kiss on the cheek, torn between his two desires of wanting to offer the truth to his wife, who was very clearly worried for her two friends, and wanting to follow Snape and provide whatever little assistance he could to help Severus.

His words had not completely left his mouth when from inside the house became filled with another heart-wrenching scream that caused the fine hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, and what little color was left in her face drained. Remus quickened his pace and bolted up the steps of their porch.

Tonks trailed right behind her husband, half out of her mind with worry, and she cringed as Ollie and Severus's shouts echoed in the hallway, intermingled with that of Teddy's wailing and Andromeda's startled screeches.

"Merlin's left nutsack," Tonks swore violently under her breath, gritting her teeth in anger at the sheer amount of noise that now filled her and Remus's home. She was beginning to wonder if allowing Ollie to bring Norah here and allowing Severus into her home was a mistake, and she let out a growl.

No way, T, she scolded herself. Don't think like that. You owe Norah. Severus is Jameson's best shot at making it out of this alive. Deal with it, Dora.

She gave her head a curt shake to clear it and followed Remus into their home and down the hall, half out of her bloody mind with worry for her. Tonks kept the pace only inches behind, pausing to lay a reassuring hand on her mum's shoulder and to relieve Andromeda of baby Teddy, who was wailing and screeching at the top of his lungs at having been woken up.

"Shh," she whispered soothingly, having to pause in her efforts to follow her husband and rock her infant son in his arms. "It's all right. Mummy's here, Teddy. I'm not going anywhere. You're safe, little one..."

His bright brown eyes found Tonks's gray orbs, brimming with uncertainty, and he laughed, as only a baby can laugh a sweet sound unblemished by the hurts and tribulations of life. His little face glowed from a light within, and his miniature fingers grasped onto his mother's and held tight.

He knew! Somehow it felt like he knew Tonks needed comfort in the dead silence of the night, save for Ollie and Severus's shouting match in the hallway of their home, baby Teddy, he knew his mother needed joy in the midst of her pain. Tonks held him to her chest tightly, vowing she would never let this precious bundle go no matter what came, she would protect him. Even to the point of death.

Her mind could not fathom what the hell was happening tonight in her and Remus's home, as she rocked Teddy and whispered soothing words to her son in the vain effort to attempt to get him back to sleep before finally breathing a sigh of relief as she heard Severus and Ollie's shouts growing softer, as Teddy's eyelids slowly flickered closed, and he snuggled into the swaddling.

As she made her way down the hallway, fear clutched at her heart, latching onto the damned corded muscle within her chest with its icy tendrils. A thousand horrible thoughts ran through Tonks's mind at what poor Ollie was going through, each one bloodier and worse than the last, knowing that he'd feel the need to be with Norah, to help her, and it sounded as though Severus was adamantly refusing him in to be with her.

She blinked, hearing Ollie's vehement protest.

Her progress towards the hall to see what she could do to help Remus diffuse the situation between her feuding friend and feuding Order member was stopped by a scream coming from inside their spare bedroom so violent and hair-raising that it caused the hairs on the back of Tonks's neck to stand up and it threatened to shake the walls outside.

Tonks stared straight ahead of her, unable to draw in a new breath of air, and before fear or worry could engulf her mind completely, she froze as Ollie, seething in anger, teeth clenched as they gnashed together, his pale face now ashen and beaded with sweat as his black bangs clung to his forehead, took a half-step forward towards Professor Snape, the only barrier between Snape and Ollie preventing the men coming to blows in the hallway of their own home was Remus himself, determination and resolve on his lined, scarred face as the Wolf within him darted in his flashing light brown eyes as he held a hand out to Ollie.

Tonks blinked and forced her attention to focus on Severus, who was in the middle of speaking to Remus, and she could hardly believe this. For once in her lifetime, when the Potions Master of Hogwarts addressed his soon-to-be colleague back at the castle when the fall term started in September once the repairs to Hogwarts were completed, with a modicum of respect, and, dare she even think this next part…kindness.

"I will need an extra pair of hands, Professor Lupin. The wolf's wounds are quite severe and she will not last the night without proper and quick treatment. Had you come to me sooner, boy, I could have perhaps done more for her," Severus was replying to something Remus had said in his usual droll and surprisingly calm baritone, though his gaze remained fixated on Ollie, whose face had become so pallid, he looked like a corpse.

Tonks felt her heart skip a painful, faltering beat and she could tell by the way Ollie stumbled and rested his back against the wall of the hallway that he had felt the same too. Norah's condition was critical and needed treatment as soon as possible.

Infection of her wound at her ribcage, thanks to Greyback's disgusting, blackened claws, had probably already set in, and then there was the matter of her severely burnt leg.

She took a cautious half-step forward and dared to poke her head in through the slightly ajar door of their spare bedroom to see for herself. The young blonde witch and werewolf was pale and barely conscious. Norah appeared to be keeping her gaze trained at a paint spot on the ceiling wall near the fan's rotating blades as if trying to block out feeling the pain.

Tonks knew from experience she was doing this in order to stay calm.

"Of course, I'll help, Severus. My wife and I owe Miss Jameson our very lives. She saved our baby's life, and ours as well. It's the least I can do. Just tell me what to do," she heard Remus answer immediately, sounding borderline offended, as though Severus thought he would not.

"It will be most welcome, Professor," Severus replied, acknowledging Tonks's husband's words with a curt dip of his head, though both Snape and Lupin's heads swiveled behind them as they turned at the waist upon hearing a faint cough coming from inside, and the She-Wolf's meek voice.

"Ollie?" Tonks heard Norah's voice whisper, much too faint and weak. Tonks let out a squeak of surprise as Ollie, in his haste to appear at Norah's side, practically barreled Tonks over, knocking her shoulder against his.

Tonks, despite her conscience telling her whatever was about to be exchanged between the two of them, ought to be allowed a private moment, could not resist peeking her head in through the doorway and watching.

"What—what is it?" Ollie managed to croak out hoarsely, trying to keep his own voice even, and Tonks's first thought of her best mate was he sounded much like he had the night of Bill and Fleur's wedding when Crouch and his company had crashed the party, his voice subdued, rough.

Tonks knew the man while in Crouch's captivity had not spoken a physical word in well over two years, and he sounded much like he had that night when he had revealed himself to her, as though he had forgotten and was struggling to learn how to speak again after not talking for almost three years. She felt her heartstrings give a painful little lurch.

"I…I'm afraid," Norah whispered in a voice so faint, it was barely a whisper. Tonks drew in a sharp breath and held it, thinking this was perhaps the first time she had ever heard her friend with the hardened heart of stone and tough-as-nails exterior ever admit any kind of feeling.

At least, any feeling that wasn't bitterness or anger towards what had happened to her husband and son.

Tonks felt her eyes widen, and she waited to see what Ollie would say. She briefly felt the sensation of Remus's rough and slightly calloused hand come to rest on her shoulder, murmuring something about needing to come away, to let the two have a moment, for pity's sake, and Tonks, annoyed, swatted Lupin's hand away.

Tonks heard Ollie draw in a breath and give his head a curt shake to clear his mind, needing to remain calm.

You can do this, Ollie. Be strong for her, she thought, biting her bottom lip. Norah needed reassurance everything was going to be fine, and the blonde werewolf needed Ollie to be the strong one now in this regard, though Ollie wasn't sure if he had any left to give.

His faint voice reached Tonks's ringing eardrums, cutting through the throbbing, and pounding pulses. "Y—you're going to be just fine," was what Tonks heard Ollie saying, and she wasn't even aware she'd been holding her breath until she heard herself emanate a tense, relieved breath.

She watched as the raven-haired, blue-eyed former Slytherin reached up a shaking hand and brushed her sweat-drenched blonde bangs off of her forehead, and shakily rose to his feet when he heard Remus and Severus enter the room, with Snape barking orders at Lupin to roll up his sleeves and procure fresh bandages and a basin of hot water. Tonks cringed, still feeling like she was intruding on something private, but still, she could not seem to tear her gaze away.

Tonks squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she heard Ollie start to violently protest the moment Professor Snape had noticed Ollie still in the Lupins' spare bedroom and had not hesitated to seize him by the scruff of his black woolen robes and start to drag him towards the door.

"What the hell are you doing, Snape?" Ollie barked, shirking away from Severus's ironclad grip, or attempting it, and failing, as the Potions Master's hold on the sleeves of his robes was unusually strong. "I—I'm staying! I'm not going to leave her, Snape!" he bellowed, raising his voice.

Tonks blinked owlishly at the scene unfolding before her, deciding that now was as good a time as any to step in, upon sensing the growing danger and the animosity that burned as a smoldering fathomless rage in Ollie's eyes.

"Ol," she began somewhat hesitantly, breaking her silence as she took a cautious half step into her and Remus's spare bedroom for guests, "you cannot stay. Let Remus and Severus heal her alone, Ollie."

She shot her best mate what she hoped was an apologetic look and gingerly placed her hands on his shoulders, steering him toward the door.

"C'mon," she murmured, leaning forward slightly, and whispering it into the shell of his ear. "You don't need to be here for this, Ol. It would only hurt you. Come and meet our son, Ollie. You're a proud uncle to Teddy Remus Lupin, a great wizard in the making," she muttered lowly.

"But I—" Ollie began, violently wanting to protest, however, this time, it was Remus who cut him off and prevented him from speaking further.

"Norah would not want you to see her this way, Ollie," Lupin said airily, the edges of his voice hardened, clipped, the last vestiges of his patience tested as he silently dared the former Slytherin and Obscurus to challenge his and Severus's request, hoping that it would not come to that at all. "And Professor Snape and I do not have time to argue with you. You need to leave. Go with Tonks, she'll get you something to eat and drink, get you cleaned up, and will prepare a place for you to sleep, and meet your nephew," he added, a faint ghost of a smile tugging his lips upward as he gave a curt nod to his wife, a gesture that Tonks returned in agreement.

Remus narrowed his darkening light brown eyes in suspicion and anger, and when Ollie made no move to step over the threshold of the bedroom that led back out into the hallway of the cottage, he growled.

"Get out. Now," he barked sharply, pointing towards the door.

Ollie shook his head, feeling a wave of cold fear engulf his wretched, miserable body. He could not leave Norah like this. Not in this state. What if something happened to her and he was not here when she needed him?

If she succumbed to her wounds and then she—if she…and he wasn't by her side during? What if this would be the last time he ever saw her? No. He could not leave, he wouldn't. Not when she needed him.

"No," he growled in a rough, coarse voice that did not sound like his own, and Tonks's angered voice cut through his swirling haze of thoughts. "I'm not leaving, Remus. You cannot force me out."

"Ollie."

Tonks's voice had only been sharp with him throughout a handful of times in his life, and strangely enough, the last time she had spoken to him like this had been a few hours ago, shortly before Snape's Patronus had crashed her would-be baby shower and wedding reception.

He blinked owlishly and forced himself to tear his gaze away from the fading young blonde resting on the queen-sized mattress of Tonks and Lupin's spare bedroom as he heard Tonks attempt to reach him.

"There's nothing else you can do for Norah at this point, Ol. I –I know what it's like, trust me I do. But the best thing we can do for her now is to go downstairs, stay out of Remus and Severus's way. Let's...let's get you cleaned up, and allow these two to heal her."

Ollie huffed in frustration, throttling his urge to roar like an enraged dragon, though upon slowly lifting his chin and meeting Tonks's gaze, he offered a curt nod.

"Fine," he growled, flinching at how harsh his voice sounded, though before Tonks or Snape or Remus could stop him from doing it, Ollie turned on the heel of his boot and knelt at the edge of the bed.

Norah's eyelids had fluttered closed and Norah barely looked alive.

A stab of fear pricked at his heartstrings and he swore he tasted bile that had settled on his tongue, though he tampered down his rapidly swelling panic and tried to force himself to remain calm, for Norah's sake.

With painstaking, gentle slowness, Ollie leaned over the bed and smoothed back her sweat-soaked blonde bangs off her ashen forehead. He knelt even lower and whispered into the shell of Norah's ear, low enough so that only she could hear him, if she were even still awake at all.

"I'm not letting you leave us, Jameson," he whispered. "Not again. I'll be right here when you wake up, Norah. I promise. You'll be just fine."

Hearing Tonks give a light, impatient cough once to clear her throat, Ollie let out a frustrated groan and rose shakily to his feet, turning on the heel of his boot and allowing Tonks to escort him out of the spare room, Lupin's face was the last thing he saw as the werewolf gently closed the door behind him.

As the door shut, Ollie drew in a sharp breath that pained his lungs, only half-listening as Tonks proceeded to take his arm and escort him down the hallway and into their simple little living room. Ollie felt a strange cold, a bitter one, settle in his icy, but thawing heart as it threatened to crack and shatter into a million pieces, inspired by the torment of not being allowed to stay in the room with Norah, not knowing if she would survive the nights or if her wounds would claim her.

And the iron in his own heart. It was undeniable, the hurt that burgeoned him. His eardrums throbbed, roaring with sound, and as Tonks gingerly lifted her now sleeping baby from her mother's arms, with Andromeda Tonks shooting Ollie a look of pitying sympathy he did not want, Ollie suddenly found himself staring down at the tiny face of Teddy.

Baby Teddy's tiny fingers curled around his pinky. Ollie felt the cracking of a soft smile emerge despite the worry that wracked his frame. He watched as Teddy Remus Lupin peered through brand new eyes at what had to be such a strange world after spending his life for nine months in his mother's womb. His legs kicked out in a tiny jagged motion, looking for the resistance they were used to, he guessed, finding nothing but the air.

"He's beautiful, T. You did so great," Ollie heard himself say in a cracking, faltering voice. He forced a weak smile, sensing Tonks was eyeing him, though he knew it did not meet his eyes. "Kid's going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up, just like both his parents," he joked, glancing back down at the less than five-hour-old infant in his arms, so small, unable to believe how tiny new humans were.

How vulnerable and awe-inspiring it was. He swallowed down hard as he handed Teddy back to his mother and watched as Tonks rocked him in her arms for a bit before settling Teddy back down in his crib in their bedroom, and motioned for Ollie to follow her to the living room, leaving her and Remus's door open in case Teddy woke and started crying, needing attention.

She fumbled with something on the coffee table in the living room, and the moment Tonks turned around with her wand and a small porcelain bowl of medical supplies in hand, Ollie let out a groan.

"Ol, let me see it," Tonks began cautiously, her tone hardened and warning him as she cautiously approached, waving her wand, and conjuring a spare wooden chair. "You're injured. Let me help you, Ollie."

Ollie considered, glancing at his reflection in a nearby mirror hung on the opposite wall, and flinched.

He looked a right bloody, broken mess. The sleeve of his right arm's black woolen robe seeped in dried blood, and as he glanced down at the injury, he was appalled to see a deep wound sliced in the flesh of his upper right arm as he tugged at his robe.

It was heavily oozing out blood and there was a bluish-purple bruise forming around it. Ollie lightly pressed his index finger against the center of the cut and sucked in a sharp breath as the pain spiraled across his body. Colorful spots contoured the sides of his vision and he bit his lip.

"Can't we just leave it like it is? Really, T, I...I'm fine, there's no damn need for this, Dora," he begged desperately, already able to tell by the darkening look in Tonks's flashing gray eyes she'd say no.

"No, I can't, Ollie," she growled, not in the mood to argue with him tonight. "If I leave it like it is, it's going to become infected. Let me see."

Ollie let out a tired sounding sigh, and begrudgingly rolled up the sleeve of his robe and showed his arm, the bleeding gash, grotesque as it was, to Tonks, who let out a tiny gasp of surprise at just how severe his wound was, though she said not a word.

She set to work tending his wounds, and he sat numbly against the wooden chair, back pressed against the backrest, ignoring the stinging swells of pain as Tonks set to work cleaning the blood off his arm, stitching it.

"Thank you," he murmured gruffly after several minutes in silence. "You—you haven't asked, T, about...about what happened tonight," he said, recognizing his voice came out harsher than he meant to, squeezing his eyes tightly shut, sighing.

Tonks pursed her lips into a thin line and took a moment to find her voice as she gingerly dabbed at the cut with antiseptic liquid on a rag.

"Your business is yours, Ollie. You need help. What does it matter as to your 'why?'" she retorted. "I don't need to know what happened out there tonight. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Ol. I won't make you talk, Ollie. Stitches would be better, but…this will have to do for now until you can get a skilled Healer to look at you," she murmured by way of response, biting her bottom lip hard in intense concentration.

Ollie merely grunted wordlessly in response, though he was quick to recognize his demeanor was coming across as cold and ungrateful, and as he heard himself let out an exasperated sigh, he felt something within himself shift and give way, and he blearily lifted his chin and met Tonks's gaze.

"I—I did not mean to…to snap, T, you know it. I—I just…what happened to her, was my fault, Tonks," he muttered, a pained look in his brilliant blue eyes glimmering with unshed moisture that he knew now to be tears. But Merlin's Beard, he was so bloody exhausted. "I owe you."

Tonks nodded and shot him a look that suggested she forgave him.

"You owe me nothing, Ollie, so don't even start talking like that. You're my best friend, this is what friends do, Brennan. You watch my back and I watch yours, so get the notion of a life debt out of your mind right bloody now, because I won't hear it," Tonks snapped, shaking her head, and allowing a wavy lock of her hair to tumble in her face before swiping it back off her shoulder. "Tonight…I put these on your wounds, Ol. Tomorrow, you help someone up when they fall," she murmured, her voice low and quiet.

Tonks did not bother to elaborate on who she was referring to. They both knew.

Ollie clenched his teeth in anticipation, his shaking fists balling and coming to rest in his lip with great difficulty as he swore, he heard a faint cry of pain—Norah's voice—coming from down the hallway.

Tonks slowly swiveled her head in the direction of the disturbance for a moment, though she quickly gave her head a shake to clear it and turned back around to regard Ollie, not like how pale her friend looked. With a content sigh, she rose to her feet, wincing at the stiffness in her knees from spending at least an hour standing out on the porch waiting for Remus and Ollie to return with Norah.

She turned her back on Ollie, sensing her mate needed a moment to himself.

"Rem and I want you to stay here, Ollie. Norah too. I know you…don't have a place to go." A pause in response was nothing Tonks could have hoped for. She shifted the wooden basin of medical supplies under her arm and sighed.

"We aren't meant to be alone." Her piece said, Ollie heard Tonks let out a sigh in an unrestrained fashion for the third time in one night as her footfalls slowly faded, and she left him alone to ponder what she had said.

The moment he knew himself to be alone, Ollie slumped back against his chair, unmoved and unresponsive, feeling what little strength remained in his body leave him all at once, like sap from a tree. As he sat, staring into the flames of the roaring fire that Tonks had lit in the fireplace, Ollie could not help but wonder how in the seven hells had his life come to this.

How, in such a short time after getting over Tonks, the new woman that he cared about was about to be ripped from him, too?

Why was Merlin such a vicious bastard?! What had he ever done to earn such discontent in this world?

Norah did not deserve this. He—he should have caught her fall! She should not have to suffer in such intense pain like this. It was his fault. The werewolf deserved a life of peace and comfort. Love and kindness.

He could try his hardest to give her what Norah needed if she survived the night. He tensely watched the flames roar to life in the hearth, thinking that there was not an ounce of happiness left within him. And there would not be one until Norah was recovered if she made it. For perhaps the third time in his life, he felt powerless, alone, betrayed.

There was no point in living at all if Norah did not survive the night. Tonks had Remus and Teddy now. And he had nothing if she didn't live. Ollie did not know how long he sat in the armchair, facing the fire in the hearth, and staring into the flames as though nothing else around him existed.

It was his fault that he had not managed to catch her when she fell. Because he had not been fast enough, it had been Norah who paid the price and almost gotten killed because of his inability to act quickly.

He drew in a sharp breath that pained his lungs as Norah's serene blue eyes drenched his wretched memory. Ollie never would have imagined another woman could invoke these forgotten feelings, yet here he sat in Tonks and Remus's house, a broken, scarred, utter mess, but still feeling, nonetheless.

Of course, what he felt for the young blonde witch and werewolf were new, but still, they felt a familiar yet foreign sense to him, sending a spiral of warmth in his chest, like a fond memory.

However, something within Ollie still fought what he felt for Norah, these strange feelings that made him feel light and breathless, though, underneath the surface, something dark within him festered like a rotting wound, this 'wrong' feeling.

Not only did Ollie feel wrong for thinking such thoughts of Norah Jameson, currently fighting for her life just three doors down from him, but a snake-like voice in the back of his mind that sounded entirely too much like Crouch taunted him, jeering at poor Ollie.

It laughed at him.

"You honestly think the She-Wolf can see past what you really are, boy?" It mocked him, Crouch's voice sounding like he was laughing at him. "You are absolutely pathetic. All my efforts to make you a man, wasted! You haven't learned your lesson at all, kid!"

These intrusive thoughts left Ollie speechless, his blue eyes left wide and unblinking, though he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and tried to drown out Master Crouch's voice, as his breaths hitched in his throat.

"Oh! And Tonks! What would she say to all of this? Did you really love her at all, considering you've moved on from one woman to the next, and now, the Wolf is dying, boy!"

Ollie squeezed his exhausted, heavily-lidded eyes shut in an effort to drown out Crouch's voice, his tone laced with judgment and what Ollie could only describe as a minor amusement.

"No!" Ollie erupted, his cracking voice bursting forth from his chest, throat, and lips as though he thought it would be the silencer to the voice in his head. His shallow breaths that caught in his throat worsened as the seconds turned into minutes. He felt his nails dig into the skin of his palms. "Y—you're wrong. I—I'm h—happy with her, Master," he growled.

Ollie leaned forward in his chair and buried his head in his hands, pieces of raven-black locks of his hair sticky every which way as they became entangled in his fingers as he tugged on tufts of his short, wild black hair so hard he felt the roots screaming in protest for him to stop it.

The poor chap was practically hysterical at this point, feeling his lungs burning as the biting cold air wafting in from the cracked open window to allow fresh air to flow through the Lupin's living room thrashed in and out of his overworked lungs at a speed Ollie, for the life of him, could not manage to slow down.

The pounding throbbing of his heart, this damned stubborn corded muscle within his chest he wished he could rip from his chest with his own bare hands if Norah did not survive the night numbed his chest, sending him feeling like he was going to pass out or become physically sick.

Ollie was sure slick tears would slip from his eyes at any given moment, and he heard someone let out a low, whining, broken whimper, feeling it as he curled in on himself, eyes shut.

It took him a moment to realize such a pitiful sound came from him. Ollie swallowed down hard past the lump in his throat, trying in vain to fight down the salty liquid, still keeping his head buried in his hands.

After a moment of roaring, deafening silence, the snakelike voice of Crouch in the back of his mind finally ceased its tormenting of him, and Ollie did not bother curbing the violent shudder that went down his back.

His head remained firmly pressed into his hands, and his lungs had calmed down slightly, the burning feeling of his panic attack subsiding slowly, almost at a snail's pace.

"I—I l—love h—her…" His voice dropped even lower than he was used to, though he knew Crouch's voice inside his head was bloody right.

He was nothing but a monster. He had almost caused the person he loved, yes, loved, to meet a horrible, grisly fate by falling to her death. And now, she was succumbing to her wounds, surely not to survive.

The low whine from the back of his throat came again, and he curled even further on himself, keeping his eyes tightly squeezed shut, thinking that he hated himself. Ollie thought all of this as he curled up into the armchair, slick tears streaming down his face, thinking he had no strength left anymore, and he was unaware as he felt his lids become heavy and he drifted into a fitful sleep, that Tonks lingered just outside the doorway, her back pressed against the wall, listening to Ollie's cries.