For the first time in months, Tonks was actually asleep when the sun came up. Usually between the tossing and turning, and listening to her husband's coughing and snoring, there wasn't much sleeping for her. Now the bedroom was still. Quiet. If she laid really still, she felt like the room was moving around her. It probably hadn't been this quiet in a long time. He probably would have been upset with her for letting the dog, a fat yellow Labrador named Lola, sleep on the bed. She was a young dog and she was her mother's other baby.

They used to have a half-kneazel. He was about seventeen or eighteen and his name was Patches. He had an interesting life, including getting kidnapped, stepped on, and having his fur constantly pulled on by kids. Eighteen was young for a kneazel, but not quite unusually young. They knew he was going to pass soon. Remus said that one of them was going to go soon. He didn't expect to be beaten at his own game by his own cat.

Remus hadn't been awake when he died. He wasn't even aware of what was going on when it had been time for him to go. As far as Tonks cared, those weren't his real last moments, but she didn't know what were. His last good day? His last waking moment?

Tonks has just gotten out of the little bathroom inside the hospital room and was drying her hands on her jeans. Elena and Teddy were each occupying a less-than-ideal sleeping arrangement of sleeping on the same couch while attempting to keep minimal contact. Remus was in bed, stirring as he began to wake up.

"You're awake." She said softly. He began coughing. It was a long, wheezy coughing spell from deep inside his chest somewhere. His face was turning the colour of a beet. The bed wasn't very big, so Tonks opted to sit half on the ledge, half on his leg. "It's Dora. Don't talk, just relax and breathe slow."

He nodded and tried to cover up his mouth. His fingers were stiff and each covered in tiny white bandages. He had the nervous habit of gnawing on his fingers during his transformations. His wife reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his glass of water. It seemed to take ages for him to catch his breath and when he did, he only took slow, small sips of it. He looked as if swallowing hurt.

"Go slow, I don't want you to choke." Tonks said lightly.

Remus nodded quietly. "Thanks."

She shook her head. "Don't strain yourself trying to talk. Maybe you should just relax."

"I'm... okay." His tired eyes looked up at her. No amount of sleep was ever going to make him feel any better. She stared into them. They were such a wonderful blue that she never wanted to forget. Neither of their children had gotten them, however. Both of them naturally had her dark brown eyes. But his eyes were different than they usually were. The life behind them wasn't there. He looked lost and confused. His forehead was beginning to break into a sweat. "Where am I?"

"You're at St. Mungo's. The hospital." Tonks told him in a gentle voice. She reached over and grabbed his hand. He was struggling to squeeze it shut. "Try not to talk, okay? Are you in pain?" Remus shook his head with an unusual amount of fervency. Tonks picked up piece of paper on the side table, folded it in a sloppy half and waved it in front of his face. He closed his eyes again. "Better?"

He nodded.

"Do you need anything?" He shook his head with less enthusiasm. "You would tell me if you're hurting, right?"

Remus nodded, getting a bit agitated with her questions. She brushed his hair back with her hand. "Lena and Teddy are asleep on the couch. Do you want me to wake them up?" His eyes continued to look confused at her question. He wasn't losing his memory and he certainly knew who his kids were, but listening to her talk was like watching a spoon slowly stirring a bowl of porridge. Dull, thick, sluggish. He shook his head after a moment. They needed to sleep.

Remus opened his mouth to say something. He was breathing really heavy. "Dora, I-" She didn't stop him that time. She sat and watched him, hoping that he would say something. He didn't seem to be fully aware of the situation, but he was neither fully aware, nor lacking the awareness of the fact he was dying. He wasn't afraid, but he didn't know he should have been. He knew what death was, but he didn't. The fact that he didn't lack the ability to recognize her and the kids out of pure confusion was amazing. He either forgot what he was saying or he didn't have the energy to do so.

"It's okay." Tonks kissed his cheek. He was freezing cold, but he was not shivering. "I love you."

"I'm sorry." He replied.

"For what?"

She immediately realized she shouldn't have asked such an open ended question. Remus shook his head. "I'm really tired." He confessed. He gave what sounded like a little laugh, but his throat was rattling.

"Then go to sleep." Tonks assured him.

He began coughing again. Tonks was amazed that the kids didn't wake up. She let him cough through this spell without interrupting him. It felt like a really long time before he stopped and caught his breath. "Will you stay with me, please?"

"We're all going to be here tonight, and until you wake up." He nodded. "I'll be right here if you need me."

That wasn't necessarily his last words. His last words were mumbled and slurred. But she was right there when he took his last breath. The healers came as he began to breath more and more shallow, telling her to wake up the kids for when he started changing. Remus completely stopped breathing at almost two in the morning.

Nothing could have prepared her for losing the love of her life. None of the references that the healers gave her, none of the books she read, not even her auror training. She was supposed to be able to help ease loved ones into accepting the fact that someone had been killed or was fatally wounded. Months of mental preparation couldn't help her come to terms with the fact that she would never talk to him again, never touch him, never be able to kiss him again. She would never hear him laugh, or get to let him make her laugh. They would never get to share a bed together. She told herself over and over that he was in less pain now, that he was in a better place, and all that.

But Tonks was selfish. She wanted him there for herself. She didn't think it was forgivable to want to him to suffer for her sake.

She laid in bed for a while longer, listening to nothing. The world could wait a little longer for her to get up.

xxxxx

Teddy Lupin had never fallen in love before, but that didn't mean he was incredibly familiar with it.

He had never known a life without her. As children, he and Victoire, and eventually his sister were the three musketeers. He had been the only baby born during the war, but it was much less lonely once the other two came along. His first memories of Victoire were from a time when they were swimming at Shell Cottage and he quite literally threw her into the water. The picture of her, just a toddler with her bright pink swimsuit and wet curly hair was burned into his mind. She couldn't swim and Bill had to run out to get her back. She coughed and cried, and then cried some more. She cried so much. Teddy felt terrible, but he knew that he was just joking. His mother gave him a stern talking to as soon as she heard what happened.

They used to go and play in what they called the Forbidden Creek (they were five, they thought they were clever) near where the Lupin's lived, as they called it, filled with snakes, thorny tree branches, and several dangerous mudslides. They weren't allowed to go, but they always snuck down there to play, and they always got caught when they went home covered in mud. They were both sorted into Hufflepuff. When they were teenagers, Teddy snuck Victoire into Hogsmeade when she couldn't go herself. She used to paint yellow and black stripes on her face during the quidditch games, back before he quit the team. She learned how to play wizard's chess from her uncle Ron so that she could help him practice for his chess club meetings.

She wasn't pretty in the sense that she woke up one day, suddenly struck by the ravenges of puberty and was drop dead gorgeous. She was subtly pretty. She had always had a soft baby face. She had freckles like her father and her younger sister, Dominique. During the summer, Victoire usually stayed quite pale compared to her siblings, having unfortunately inherited that gene from her father's side of the family. Yet she always smelled like salt water. It wasn't exactly a clean smell, but when Teddy hugged her, it was like breathing all of in the good memories of the warm summer sunsets before she washed them out with her shampoo. Her hair wasn't straight like her mother's, either. She had thick, frizzy blonde hair that only worsened when she got it wet, and bangs that would always end up in her eyes before Christmas break.

They began dating when he was a fifth year and she was a fourth. They had their first kiss at Christmas and neither of them had ever kissed anyone before and Teddy was extremely flustered. ("I mean, I've kissed my mum before, but that doesn't count right? I shouldn't have brought that up right now, I'm sorry-"). He remembered her wearing her orange sweater with a knitted "V" on it, and he was wearing the dorkiest Christmas sweater he could possibly find because he thought it was funny and he hadn't exactly planned on kissing her that night. He remembered it in such vivid detail. The first time he kissed her, he drew a completely blank. He wasn't even sure what to think about how sweet she tasted.

She held his hand through most of his piercings, even being there to supervise the first time he pierced them himself. She drew his tattoo for him, depicting three swirling dragons on his upper bicep. She had also been the first one to say "I love you." It was never anything fancy, in fact, it was so subtle, he almost missed it altogether.

They had been dating for almost two years by that point. Victoire has been staying at the Lupin's for the night because Elena's birthday fell on Boxing Day and it was commonplace for both of the Delacour-Weasley girls to stay over. The Lupin's lived by a late schedule. Remus often closed the bookstore in Diagon Alley and Tonks... well, she was auror, however with Remus often ill due to his lycanthropy, she lived by her own schedule and just made sure that all of her papers were in the right bins on time. The kids were out of school, so sleeping in the day after Christmas was a common occurrence.

But Victoire couldn't sleep. She woke up early and took a shower, trying as quietly as she could to pour herself a bowl of cereal. Teddy, being closest to the bathroom, woke up from the sound of the faucet and took a chance that it was Victoire. He trampled downstairs in his sweatpants and a t-shirt. He didn't brush his hair, and currently, it was a dark indigo, but that was for a different reason.

Victoire was on her toes trying to reach the cabinet. She was considering climbing on the countertop except it wasn't her countertop to climb on. "Hey-" Teddy startled her.

"Oh, hey, it's you." Victoire smiled, returning to her cereal endeavor. "You sound like your dad when you come around corners."

"Oh." Teddy nodded solemnly. That made him feel worse. Remus had been told at the beginning of his seventh year that he only had about a year to live. After Almost fifty-five years, Remus's bones, muscles, and organs had endured the twisting, pulling, and breaking over time and he was eventually going to suffocate and starve to death from it. Teddy had made the decision that he wasn't going back to school after the break if he could help it, but he had no idea how to talk to his parents, so he was stockpiling job applications on his desk in hopes his mother would get a wild idea to go into his room. This was even before Remus took a nasty fall in the bathroom and got a wound on his head that was never going to heal. His mother hadn't yet forced him to return. "Sorry to startle you."

Victoire shook her head. "Do you want to be a doll and help me get that box down? Now I see what your mum was complaining about, being short and all..." Teddy nodded and reached up. He grabbed the cereal box that she had been after, but instead of handing it to her, placed it on his head, securing it with his hand so she couldn't reach. "Are you serious?"

"Sorry, what was that? 'Teddy, you're the best boyfriend I've ever had and I don't know what I'd ever do without you'?"

She was too tired to argue. "Teddy, you're the best boyfriend I've ever had and I don't know what I'd ever do without you."

"You know I am." He handed her her prize, quickly kissing her on the lips before she could protest. Victoire rolled her eyes and went to the other side of the kitchen for a bowl and spoon.

She paused. Her back turned to him, she was smiling to herself about something. "I love you." They way she said it was less thought provoking and more of something she would say to any other person. But she suddenly realized she said it. Then it dawned on Teddy. He didn't reply because it seemed... natural. It wasn't like she was really saying that she loved him, so he didn't treat it seriously. "Did you hear me?" Victoire asked.

"Oh." He replied. At this point, Teddy was already mentally beating himself up over this response. She seemed to be waiting for more. "I- wait are you being serious, or are you playing around with me?"

Victoire turned to face him. "Should I be serious?" His mouth was hanging wide open. Up until that moment, Teddy Lupin felt as if he didn't understand love. He felt as if he was too young, too immature, too selfish to feel love or be loved. He didn't feel he understood it. But he looked at her and he felt a stirring in his chest. It felt different now. Victoire looked very disappointed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have thrown that at you for nothing."

"No, no it's like-" Teddy was stammering. "Wait, Tori, I'm sorry. It's not you, I'm just... you caught me off guard and I... Tori, I don't want to say 'I love you' just because you said it first. It's not fair. Can you give me a chance?"

She shook her head. "Wait, I don't understand."

Teddy walked over to him, holding her hands in his. "If I say I love you, you won't think I really mean it. You'll think I'm just saying it back."

"I won't think that." Victoire told him. "I love you and I want you to know it."

"I do know it. I think I've known it for a long time." Teddy cradled her head. "I feel like saying 'I love you' doesn't do it justice."

"It's okay." She told him.

There was a deep pride inside of him. He felt terrible that she was upset, she just didn't understand what he was feeling. Teddy didn't understand what he was feeling. "But I do love you."

Now she was going to be his wife. Of course, he thought he might actually die as he asked her to marry him. With his father passed away, he felt he didn't have anyone to turn to for advice, so he turned to her own father. It felt like an appropriate rite of passage. Bill was extremely excited when Teddy announced his plans to propose. He helped Teddy pick out her ring and he gave him pointers on not being nervous and how best to ask her.

Victoire had just woken up. She hadn't brushed her hair, but had tied it up in a knot, her bangs hanging in her eyes. There was a knock on her bedroom door. "Hang on a second! I'm not dressed yet!"

"It's Teddy." The voice replied.

"Is he outside?" She called back, scurrying to put some pants on.

"No, he's at your door."

Victoire stopped. She sat back down on the bed, pantsless. "Come in." Teddy stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Today he just had on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. He seemed to immediately notice that she was only in a white t-shirt a lacy pair of panties. "Hi."

"Hey." He approached her carefully. Victoire sat up, rubbing her face. He wasn't sure how close to get to her. She held out her arms to him, giving him to go ahead to come closer.

"How are you?" She asked, tilting her head.

"I came to talk to Lena." Teddy told her. "I can't find her anywhere. Or Dominique. Louis let me in."

"You're still fighting, huh? Always got something to fight about." She pulled her knees apart, nestling him close to her between her legs. "Do you want to talk about what's going on? Maybe I can help."

Teddy shook his head. He cautiously tucked her hair behind her ears, sweeping her bangs away from her charming blue eyes. "It's okay." He said simply.

Victoire ran her hands up the bottom of his sweatshirt and across his stomach, around his hips to his back. "Je m'inquiète pour toi." He didn't know enough French to know what that meant and that was okay. Victoire was fluent in French like her mother, but she liked thinking aloud in her second language. He liked listening. "No, it's not. You're clearly disturbed by something."

"I don't want to talk about it." He replied.

She rested her head against his stomach. Her hands sliding down beneath the waste and of his pants. "Is this okay?"

Teddy nodded. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Tori."

Victoire pulled back for a moment. "Are you okay with this?"

Teddy and Victoire had never had sex. With each other or with other people, to be specific. They had talked about it in the past, and they had tried to work up to it, but they never quite got to it. Teddy felt better that they were at least being comfortable being around each other in minimal clothing and weren't just agreeing to move in together in the next year under the circumstances that they had never seen each other nude. They had caught glimpses or got close to seeing things, but besides Victoire taking her shirt off one time to get into a dress, their bodies were unfamiliar with each other. Teddy was frustrated from the more technical aspect; they were going to be married and moving in together in a year. They should've just had sex and gotten it over with. What if they actually hated each other but didn't know until they tried each other out? Victoire was frustrated from the standpoint of she wanted to know that he was completely ready to hand himself over to her.

"I'm okay." He replied. His hand touched beneath her chin.

How many more times were they going to keep stoping short? She was getting a bit sick of having to occupy herself with her own fantasies of him when she was alone in the shower rather than his actual self. Victoire rubbed the side of her leg against his. "Please don't be afraid of me." She said softly.

Teddy leaned down and kissed her. She pushed back, kissing him even harder and with more intent. Her hands were grabbing at his behind. "I'm not afraid of you." Teddy said confidently.

"Then let's just do it." Victoire yanked back from him. Her stare was full of impulsion. She grabbed his sweatshirt with two hands. "Please, let's just do it now."

"Vic, I don't think I have any condoms with me at the moment, come to think of it." Teddy told her. This was something of a lie, considering he was fairly certain he had one in the back of his wallet, but he doubted it was any good.

"It's okay, you can just... you know..." She made a gesture with her head. He didn't know what that meant.

"Isn't this kind of risky though?"

"You haven't got anything, have you? You're not shooting up with needles with a bunch of... shady muggles?"

"No, I actually trust the muggles I do drugs with." Teddy said sarcastically. Victoire rolled her eyes. "What about your parents? Aren't they home?"

"My parents already think we do it, so it's fine." She told him. "They don't care. They won't come barging in."

Teddy shook his head. "Tori, I don't know about this."

"Let's just try, okay? No harm in trying." She persuaded. The idea became a lot friendlier once they were kissing again. She was so soft and so vulnerable in his arms. Seeing this side of her made him feel completely different. He probably also felt different because her hand was wedging its way between the sides of his zipper, beneath his belt. Something inside of him grew tense and tight as she fondled with him. She wasn't wearing a bra and he found he actually liked getting to feel her breast's through her shirt, as goofy as he felt doing it. This was typically as far as they got.

He was about to pull his sweatshirt off over his head. Was this too much? This felt like this was too much. She was actually really cute when she made that face, he thought. Somehow, he continued to struggling find her to be "sexy" as opposed to straight adorable, even if they were only a year apart.

"You don't have to just stare at me like that." She told him. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno, I just feel kind of weird." Teddy confessed.

"Then let's make you feel not so weird." Victoire announced. They were kissing again, and in a way it helped ease his mind over it. Was he supposed to be doing something right about now? Did she actually liked being touched by him? Was he supposed to be taking his pants off right now? Wait, what if she didn't like what she saw when he pulled his pants down? What was his plan then? What was even happening right now?

Teddy found himself hanging over her as she sprawled out at his waist. He was suddenly very aroused at how close they were. Teddy closed his eyes, kissing her on the chest. She was so perfect to him, and he wanted to tell her but he didn't want to sound cheesy and ruin the moment they were having.

But he ruined it anyway.

It felt like someone opened a floodgate of emotion inside of him. Teddy actually stumbled a couple of steps backwards, his hand covering his face. Terrifying images splashed across his eyelids, refusing to go away. "Hang on, I'm sorry. I need a minute."

Victoire jerked herself off the mattress. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I'm having a moment." Teddy was physically cringing. Whatever emotion it was he was mustering up inside of him was washed away.

"A moment?" Her worry slipped away as she watched him. "Are you good now?"

Teddy covered his mouth with his hand. "I can't do this." Victoire stared with complete disappointment. "No, no, no, it's not you this time, this is completely unrelated."

"Oh yeah?" She asked. Her anger wasn't subtle.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it, Tori." Teddy looked her straight in the eye. "You don't understand."

"I don't?"

"Tori, seriously, this isn't about you and it's not even about me and I shouldn't talk about it because it's not public yet, and I'm sorry."

She was staring at him aghast. "Really? You always do this. Is there something wrong that I'm doing? Do you not like me? Are you not attracted to me or something and you just don't want to talk about it? Is there something else going on that you're afraid of, because I don't want to marry someone who's a liar or doesn't trust me."

"My mum's pregnant." The words blurted out faster than he could stop himself.

They both had their mouths open, but neither of them spoke. "Wait... what?"

He nodded, furious and silent. "I'm sorry, but it's really hard to get off when all I can think about it my dad plowing away at my mum while we were away at school." The image now passed on to her and she winced, making a face. Teddy's eyes widened and he nodded. "I know."

"I mean, that's... sweet of them, I guess... oh..." Victoire shook her head. "Ew. Wait a minute, thought Uncle Remus was like... sick. Weak. Bed-ridden. And yet he managed to muster up all that so they could- ugh. Gross!"

"Apparently he was too much bed-ridden-"

"Okay, ew, stop." They both had terrible expressions on their faces now. Now Victoire was not only picturing that, but her own parents weasled into the picture. "Just stop please."

"I'm sorry."

"Does this have anything to do with your sister? Why she's here with us?"

"Dad didn't know about the baby and Elena's not forgiven Mum for it." Teddy told her. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "I keep trying to talk to her, trying to bring her home, but she won't have it. She won't let it go. I'm worried she'll never talk to her again."

"Who else knows about this?" Victoire asked. "Sorry, I-"

"Just us three, I think."

"How far along is your mum? Obviously not that far along, cause I think we would know it... but I haven't seen her in ages. Not since the funeral. It is your dad's, right?"

"It's his, and she's only known since March."

"March? That long?"

"Yeah." Teddy nodded, then began shaking his head. "Tori, I don't know what to do, but I don't want to lose my family over this."

She touched his leg, her head shaking. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being pushy. I'm sorry for being mean, I'm just..."

"Frustrated." He finished her sentence, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry. I get it, believe me, I want to be ready for this too. I mean, what if I suck and we're already married and I just-"

"Let's forget all of this. You're perfectly fine, I promise. You've not done anything wrong." Victoire announced. "How about I get dressed and we can go somewhere for the morning- your face! Are you okay?" She was suddenly laughing. He touched the sides of his face. "You're bright pink!"

"Sorry." Teddy mumbled.

Victoire kissed him. "I love you. Don't forget it, okay?"

That made him smile. "I won't."