6

OLLIE blinked rapidly, trying to process the Healer's words. His wife was going to be fine. He focused on this one thought as he barreled his way up the stairwell, Sirius right on his heels every step of the way.

The Healer paused at the foot of the steps, happy that he could bring Brennan a small semblance of good news.

"A moment before you see her. I must ask that you remain calm, as any stress you show will only succeed in stressing her out and exacerbate her injuries. Your wife isn't out of the woods just yet," Healer Jones announced, having to raise his voice to ensure he was heard. "This is a very serious operation she just underwent, Mr. Brennan. She is in a state of semi-consciousness. I gave her a powerful Sleeping and Calming Draught to act as a sedative of sorts. The wound at her side will need to be cleaned, a poultice applied daily. I've left a jar of ointment at her bedside, for now, that should get you through a week or so in helping to prevent infection and reduce scarring, but none of this can necessarily prevent an infection from occurring and it is very likely that a fever might possibly develop as a result of her injuries."

The Healer's expression was grim.

"Is there no other way to prevent that?" Ollie asked, his voice for the first time tonight, showing the first signs of fragility, at least towards Healer Jones. "I don't understand, Jones. You're telling me my wife and my unborn child are in still danger?" Ollie said, pausing at the top of the steps.

"I hope not, Mr. Brennan. The only thing that I can tell you that nothing in this world is for certain. She will need constant supervision, not just on my part, but yours and your friends as well. It will be a trying few days. You must be prepared," Healer Jones murmured in a thoughtful voice. "But…"

The St. Mungo's Healer paused to look towards the hooded figure of Norah's husband, unable to shake why he felt so cold around the man, or why he was refusing to show his face to him.

He shuddered, hoping the Death Eater didn't notice.

He was really starting to sweat breaks now, fearful of the former Slytherin man's notoriously bad temper.

It seemed the only ones who could quell him down from an attack were currently half-conscious behind the closed bedroom which Jones stood protectively in front of, and Mrs. Tonks-Lupin, who was probably currently sound asleep in the comfort of her own home.

Nevertheless, the man worried for his wife and deserved some small words of comfort, no matter how nervous the man made Healer Jones.

"Your wife is lucky to have so many people who care about her, Mr. Brennan. A good support system, not to mention a good chicken broth and some bland foods, will go a long way in aiding your wife's recovery, Ollie. She's lucky. And you are too," he added, almost as an afterthought. "If you will kindly excuse me, I must attend to my other duties. You know how to get in contact with me should you need me. I'll check up on her in a day or two, and after that, as she improves, I'll leave her care to you lot. But…" he hesitated and took another step towards Healer Jones, a dark shadow of anger flitting across his slightly weathered features. "I hope that I never see you or your wife again, Brennan. This Death Eater shit is too much for me," he growled in a clipped tone, reaching for his briefcase containing his medical supplies and left down the stairs without a word.

Sirius trailed behind, at a loss for words. Black knew there was little time. If what Ollie had told him was true, and he would only get one day with his wife after tonight, then that might possibly that Lupin and Tonks and the rest of the Order wouldn't see him as well but once a year while his shade walked the earth, ferrying souls to the afterlife after this life.

Sirius's distress and anger at his cousin's best friend reckless and quite frankly, thoughtless, and desperate plan gnawed at him as he paced the floor of his parents' living parlor once he'd seen Healer Jones to the door and bid him farewell. He drained several more goblets of red house-elvish-made wine.

Ollie was a right mental bit for doing this to his pregnant wife.

Sirius knew he had no other choice. There was no other way to stop this disaster that promised to occur.

He walked assuredly to the small writing desk that lay shoved up against the wall, taking a small pinch of Floo Powder in his palm, cupping it so none spilled on the hardwood floor. He couldn't waste any time.

He had to send a warning to Tonks and Lupin. If anyone could talk some sense into their friend, then it was Tonks. He only hoped they were still awake and that they would come because Norah's physical recovery and mental state depended on her having a support person once she learned what her beloved husband had done tonight.

Steeling a shaking breath as he strode over towards his fireplace, he threw in the powder without a second thought and called for Tonks.

Tonks and Lupin groggily answered after about three minutes. "What?" Tonks demanded in a sleepy voice as his cousin's head poked in through their fireplace, coughing out a mouthful of ash. "Sirius, mate, do you even know what time it is?"

"Three fifteen in the morning, but that's not important," Sirius barked hoarsely in an impatient tone. "You need to get over here right fucking now, Dora. Remus."

Tonks was in the middle of wiping away the crust of sleep from her eyelids that had accumulated there during the night, though the urgent note in her cousin's voice gave her pause.

"Why, Sirius?" she asked, unable to keep the note of worry from worming its way into her tone. "H—has something…happened? What's wrong?"

Sirius paused, trying to collect his thoughts as he inhaled deeply, and let out the breath steadily and slowly.

Suddenly, he felt like he was going to be sick all over the floor.

The time had come to tell Remus and Dora of the truth about their son's godmother and what Dora's best friend had done.

How in the seven bloody fucking hells could he find the words appropriate enough to divulge such information to his best friend and his cousin?

However, Sirius swallowed past a lump in his throat and trudged on, begrudgingly and reluctantly so.

This is what Norah would want, Sirius had to tell himself. He would see it through. Here goes nothing, Sirius thought bitterly.

"Norah's alive, Nymphadora," he emphasized through gritted teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as he heard the inevitable pin drop of silence. "I—I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to explain! I—Ollie's going to explain everything, but…something's happened to him and you two need to get over here right fucking now, Tonks!"

Sirius felt hollow at speaking the truth that sounded utterly ridiculous coming from his lips.

Tonks through the fireplace stared at Sirius, her head spinning. The entire world of her and Lupin's simple living room rolled in and out in waves beneath her feet, and if Remus hadn't already been holding onto her forearm, she probably would have passed out after hearing Sirius's words.

Surely, she'd heard her cousin wrong.

"Wh—what?" she stammered, spluttering. "What did you say, Sirius? B—but how? Th—that's not possible," Tonks spoke faintly through a mouth that had suddenly gone bone dry, her tongue feeling like thick heavy clay in her mouth.

Her eyes were wild and shimmering with tears as she clamored for an ounce of understanding. Tonks looked towards Remus for confirmation, though she could tell by the furrowed brows and paler-than-usual face she'd get no help from her husband. The man was just as lost and confused as she was.

"What the fuck is going on?" she swore under her breath through gritted teeth, ignoring the look Lupin shot her for her language. Tonks shot him an apologetic look.

Remus returned her look with one of his own saying that he'd already forgiven her for her outburst.

She'd been trying to watch her language, especially around their baby, not wanting the first word out of Teddy's mouth when it came time for their son to learn how to talk to be a curse word.

Tonks looked back towards Sirius while trying to avoid swallowing a mouthful of ash.

By the look on her cousin's haggard and taut face, Tonks could tell that she had not misunderstood.

"Ollie…ah, well, I—I don't know how to tell you this, Dora, but he sort of…made a deal with Death and took over his responsibilities in exchange for Him saving Norah's life tonight. He can only see Norah once a year after tonight going forward, and that includes the rest of us as well."

Sirius inwardly cringed the moment the brief explanation left his cracked lips.

He hadn't meant to blurt it out in such an unorthodox way, but there was no way to tell Tonks and Lupin the truth without it sounding utterly made-up and ridiculous like he'd had too much wine, and for all he knew, he had, though he felt like considering the way the night had gone, he'd not had enough yet.

"HE DID WHAT?" Tonks screamed, cursing through gritted teeth as her sudden outburst caused baby Teddy to wake up crying in his crib.

Lupin politely excused himself for a moment to attend to Teddy, leaving Tonks alone.

She shot Lupin an apologetic look, though it wasn't enough to quell her rage and shock at what Ollie had done.

"Oh, that fucking wanker! H—how could he, Sirius? I—is that even possible? D—Death is real? I—I always thought it was just the fairy tale in Beedle the Bard! I—I never imagined…and oh! Wh—what about Norah? A—and me and Teddy and Remus, everyone in his life that he cares about, he could do that to us?!" she roared, stumbling backward and towards the living room armchair, grasping for the arm and missed.

Her momentum propelling her forward, Tonks turned to sit, the shock of Sirius's news still ringing in her eardrums. Her gait and grasp on the armchair's armrest unsteady, her pale grey eyes wide with confusion, Tonks's equilibrium failed her as she sat, and instead, she plummeted to the living room floor, landing on her back with a resounding thud.

"Tonks, don't do anything stupid!" she heard Sirius's hoarse shout emanating from the hearth.

Tonks felt a surge of anger well deep within the pit of her stomach coupled with her heartbreak.

"Why then did you fucking tell me this if not for me to do something about this, Black?" she sobbed. Her heartbeat, now a throbbing mass of corded muscle, pounded relentlessly in her chest.

A flickering of color and a wave of muted, water-filtered echoes reverberated through Tonks as though someone had shoved the tip of the Gryffindor Sword straight into her breast.

A half-formed sob found its way to her lips at what Ollie had done, if what Sirius was saying was true, yet her tongue refused its release, sending it away with a rough, painful swallow as she buried her head in her hands. Tonks crumpled, twisting, and curling in on herself right there on their living room floor.

Her brain hardly registered her own shock.

"Ollie…Death…Norah…alive? Sirius?" She struggled to comprehend the entirety of the circumstances that swirled around in her mind, until finally, Tonks realized what all of this meant.

Ollie was abandoning his wife to carry and birth his child alone, and he had done it all for her.

Still reeling, Tonks looked towards the fireplace, just as Remus lingered in the entryway of their living room, Teddy in his arms.

"Dora!" he shouted, thinking his wife had hurt herself, though Tonks paid Lupin no mind. Right now, she only had eyes for Sirius's floating head in their hearth.

"What has he done?" Tonks beseeched her cousin as if her older cousin had all the answers.

Sirius could only study Nymphadora in sympathy. He had no solutions that he could give.

"Is he? Is she? Norah, Sirius, is she alright? Is she awake? Fuck, does Norah know about Ollie?" Tonks rasped, her shy voice choking with emotion.

She cringed to think what the blonde werewolf would think if Norah were to learn the truth. Sirius spoke softly in reply.

"She was seen to by Healer Jones," he added, noticing the darkened look in Tonks's eyes as she remembered the name of the one St. Mungo's Healer whom her best mate had managed to bribe all those years ago to do privately contracted work for him at the drop of a hat.

Whenever Ollie needed something as it pertained to a medical need, he called Healer Jones.

She'd always thought the man to be a sly, roguish bastard but never said anything to Ollie.

Sirius continued. "I'm sorry I don't have any more details. All I can tell you both is that Jones gave her a good dose of a Sleeping and Calming Draught, but she was in a state of semi-consciousness just before Jones left here and said that she was asking for Ollie. For her sake, I'm hoping she fell back asleep again," he said, his grey eyes flickering furiously as he looked behind him towards the stairwell. He furrowed his brows, frowning.

For all he knew, Teddy's godfather was currently upstairs in his spare bedroom making things ten times worse for his own wife.

"It's why I called you guys. I'm sorry to call so late you lot, but I don't think Norah should know the truth, Dora. To know what Ollie's done would kill her. You really think she would want this life for Ollie?"

Tonks's eyes narrowed as she shook her head numbly, Lupin copying her movements, spoke up and saved his wife the trouble of responding.

"No," he answered quietly by way of retort as Remus lowered his chin. "Norah wouldn't. What do you need us to do, Sirius?" he asked somberly. "How can we help Norah, Padfoot?"

The change in both his best mate and cousin was not lost on Sirius Black as Sirius looked at them both, at the lines of worry on their foreheads.

"Get over here, and don't let Norah find out the truth. I hate lying to her, she's just as much my friend as yours, but I don't think the truth would help her at this point, Tonks, it would only hurt her and make things worse," suggested as he made to pull his head out of the fireplace. "How soon can you get here? You need me to watch Teddy?"

Tonks nodded, glancing at Lupin out of the corner of her eyes as she rose from her spot on the hardwood floor, ignoring the offer of Remus's hand. "We can be there in five minutes," she said.

Sirius nodded as, without another word, he stepped back away from the fireplace and left his cousin and best mate to prepare to come over.

His keen mind, even despite the copious amounts of wine he'd drank tonight, barely registered that he did not hear Ollie approach Norah's room upstairs and gingerly turn the doorknob to let himself in.

He could only hope that Lupin and Tonks would hurry, otherwise, the damage done to Norah's psyche, not to mention the taxation and stress it would physically cause her, given her vulnerable state that she was now two months pregnant, would be nothing short of catastrophic if Norah Brennan were to learn the truth of what Ollie had done to save her life tonight.

That he had more or less sold his soul to the Devil.

For her…

OLLIE froze as the muscle within his chest quickened as he hovered, feeling uncertain of himself as he lingered outside of his wife's door. The tiny prick of uneasiness grew, winding its way through the pit of his churning stomach and further up into his chest, seeping to his throat.

It felt awkward and unsettling, yet Death found himself pushing these uncertainties and doubts aside lest he loses his resolve. After what he had sacrificed and given up, he wasn't going to turn back now.

Not when he'd promised his wife. He needed the reassurance to know that he had made the right choice tonight, even if he only glimpsed her face. Yes, that alone would be enough for him.

Ollie took a step closer, his black woolen robes billowing and swishing with his movements as he walked, though as Death, he was silent.

Silent. He pressed his palms against the door and his ear, listening for any signs of a cry of pain or a whimper from his wife to let him know Norah was awake like Healer Jones had said she was. Nothing.

His heart fell, as did his face, crestfallen. He had hoped that she'd be awake…

Then a sound. Tiny, and it could have been misplaced for the sound of a quiet settling of the ancient Black family's townhouse settling on its foundation, but the sound repeated. Ollie frowned, his dark eyebrows knitting together in a quandary. It came from the other side of the door.

He'd become quite familiar with that sound during the last two years of his marriage to Norah. Quickly, Ollie rested his ice-cold hand against the doorknob and gingerly pushed the door inward, and glided forward into the spare bedroom.

Soft moonlight from the window spilled across the small room, the cut and shadow of his towering figure the only darkness to mar the place. The blankets of Norah's bed had been tossed and thrown around in harsh, almost violent twists. His wife's white-blonde short hair was disheveled from restless sleep despite whatever potions the St. Mungo's Healer had given her that was supposed to keep Norah calm and relaxed.

Her bandaged hands that violently shook, clutched desperately at what sheets she could manage to reach with blood-dried fingers. Yet it was her face that was the final crushing blow to his heart.

Tears poured relentlessly from her closed lids, flowing across pale cheeks and down the graceful slope of Norah's temple.

Her pallid color resembled dying ashes, her skin harboring a sick greyish tinge. The healthy radiant sheen of her skin especially these days now that she was pregnant, was gone.

The delicate skin of Norah's brow was pulled tautly across the bone in her disturbed sleep now that the Sleeping and Calming Draughts were wearing off, her expression filled with a mixture of pain, horror, and broken-heartedness, a sure result of some horrific vision that Ollie could not dip into her mind to see what.

His wife's breaths caught and hitched in uneven intervals, sending violent quivers along with Norah's too-pale and sorrowful frame, feeble mewls of fear and denial tumbled from her shaking lips.

A single word found its way into the open air, pleading desperately with an unseen phantasm.

His name.

Ollie blinked, feeling certain he had misheard Norah. He had to stare at his wife's chest for a moment to make sure it rose again each time her tired lungs expelled what little air they could.

Unable to bear her sorrow a second longer, Ollie's icebox of a heart-melting almost entirely at the meek cry his wife let out, he strode across the threshold of the room and knelt at her side, careful to keep the hood of his robes pulled over his face.

With as much caution as he could muster, he rested a cold hand on her cheek, startling her awake. Norah flinched away from the iciness of Death's embrace, violently so, and her sky-blue eyes flew wide open in fright, and with the movement, a scream of alarm was ripped from her lips.

Her breast rose and fell heavily in rapid succession, her breaths hitching further as her wolfish eyesight adjusted to the darkness of the room. She sat there amid a sea of crumpled quits and twisted bedsheets, looking utterly confused.

Ollie realized with a heavy heart that Norah did not see him as her eyes stared weakly at the wall across from her as he slunk into the shadows.

"I—is someone there?" Norah whispered, shivering through gritted teeth as her eyes undoubtedly caught the slinking movement of Ollie gliding to the furthermost corner of the room.

Ollie squeezed his eyes shut as he figured he had no right to see his wife in such a way or to upset her like this, and his trepidation and doubt at what he had done to himself returned to his chest in full force, constricting air to his passageways and rendering him feeling rather light-headed.

He was reminded once again of how forward his behavior was.

Silence filled the night air in the spare bedroom of Grimmauld Place, hanging like a weighted curtain between the blonde werewolf and the shadowy and icy figure of Death, cowering in the shadows and too afraid to reveal his face to her.

She blinked, once, twice, but made no move to get up out of the bed, collapsing back against the mountain of pillows the Healer had propped her behind and stared owlishly at the corner where Ollie was hiding. He wasn't sure if she sensed him.

He had no idea what to do in this regard. Yet, after several moments of such a thick silence and no positive sign that Norah knew he was there, he at least turned and headed out of the room, silent as the night shadow he knew himself to be.

Though before he could head down the stairs, struggling to control the tears that threatened to escape from his wretched lids at any given moment, the startled shout of Tonks's voice and the familiar sound of her heavy footsteps barreling their way up the staircase reached him.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Tonks yelled, not seeming to give a goddamn if she startled Norah out of her hazy stupor as the aftereffects of her potions wore off.

Ollie stared dumbfounded, considering the fact that even through the hurt and anger in her voice, Tonks had come at such a late hour, and for him. His breathing calmed a bit as he straightened his posture and he allowed himself for just a moment to believe he could have a chance to fix this.

Norah and his baby were alive, and they were going to be fine.

Ollie steeled himself as he moved to the edge of the stairwell, finding himself once again face-to-face with Nymphadora Tonks.

She froze, her face draining of color.

"There you are, Ollie. Don't think you can hide from me," she growled, poisonous venom seeping from her tone. "Lower it. Take off your goddamned hood right now, Brennan, or I'll jinx you so hard you'll be lucky to remember your own name by the time I'm finished with you, and I'll start with a Stinging Jinx and it's going to hurt, mate. Don't make it say it again for a second time, Brennan. Lower your fucking hood. Now," Tonks commanded in a shaking voice tight with rage.

Ollie stiffened as his best friend raised her wand squarely at his chest and pointed it at him.

"Tonks," he murmured in his low, raspy voice. He didn't want to, but he saw no other choice.

He would have to do it. Blowing out a puff of cold air from his lips, Ollie raised his hands and slowly lowered his hood. He squeezed his eyes shut and cringed as he heard Tonks's sharp intake of breath and muted cry of alarm and fear as he summoned enough courage to open his eyes and lift his gaze to meet hers, letting her see his eyes.

"What the fuck, Ollie?!" Tonks shouted, and then immediately cursed herself remembering where she was.

She winced and carefully crept forward and peeked inside Norah's room. Ollie's wife had since fallen back asleep, which was a good thing. Tonks wondered if she had seen Ollie like this. Merlin's pants, but she sincerely hoped not.

Ollie turned with a start and motioned to Tonks with a wave of his arm to follow him down the stairs as he practically glided down the staircase like a specter, startling his best friend.

"Oh my God, what happened to you?" Tonks moaned as she sounded on the verge of a meltdown. "You want to tell me what's going on?"

Ollie did not speak to Tonks until he led them into Sirius's living room parlor, where Lupin was sitting in one of the two armchairs by the fireplace, while Sirius sat in the other holding Teddy. Ollie stepped from the gloom and into the dim light cast by the roaring fire in the fireplace.

Lupin jolted in his chair with a start. "Ollie," he answered flatly, though he felt all the blood drain from his face as he took in the horrific sight of their son's godfather and his wife's best friend.

His voice held dread and fear as he regarded the once-beloved man. Lupin didn't know how to react, he was drawn to the man's pitiless black eyes.

Ollie studied Lupin and Tonks a moment, folding his hands in front of his middle in thought.

"It's good to see you both," he said hauntingly in his raspy voice that sent chills down his friends' spines. "You're looking well, you lot."

"Spare us the fucking formalities, Ollie, and cut to the chase," Tonks snapped, not in the mood for bullshit. She was already cranky at being woken up at three o'clock in the damn morning by Sirius, and now this?

It was all too much for her to process. Tonks had thought she'd been the only one to hide things from her best mate in times past, but now it felt as if she hardly knew him, her own friend! Teddy's godfather was like a stranger to her!

Yet there was no time to ponder, to think, as Ollie launched into an abbreviated version of events.

It didn't take him long to explain accidentally encountering Death at Norah's funeral, how the world-weary cloaked figure whom Tonks had always believed to be a figment of imagination for the stories, sought a replacement. He'd made Ollie an offer he couldn't refuse. Ollie's face was, well, deathly serious when he brought his black eyes back up to meet Tonks's.

She flinched in fear and disgust and surprise, though did not revert her gaze from her friend's.

"How could you, Ollie?" Tonks whispered, her face paling in her anger and disappointment.

Ollie looked up sternly at his best friend and held Tonks in his icy-cold stare as his teeth gnashed together.

"You should know why, T," he snapped angrily, feeling a shift of anger within his ice-cold veins as it coursed through his system.

"B—but what about Norah, Ollie?" Tonks protested, shaking her head violently as though trying to rid her mind of an unpleasant mental image that was troubling her. "Y—you're married! You're going to be a father!" she exclaimed, wincing as she heard Sirius choke and cough on a sip of wine. "How will she feel about your choice?"

"I would hope that Nor would feel grateful that I was able to save her life and our child's life, I've given my wife a second chance at life, Tonks," Ollie snorted with no small amount of sarcasm.

Tonks groaned in frustration and slapped her knee, a temporary release of her anger with what her friend had done. "I mean about you being…like this? You—you can really only see us once a year, Ollie? What the fuck kind of deal is that? Is this some kind of penance or what's going on?" Tonks said, her tone sounded more remorseful now than angry, which Ollie felt strangely relieved by. It meant she wasn't that angry with him, so Ollie supposed he ought to be thankful. "Why can you see your wife only once a year?" She furrowed her brows in a slight frown.

"I don't know," Ollie confessed, his jaw tensing. "It's just the way that things are done. I—I was a fool," he admitted, raking his fingers through his thick tuft of black hair, his fingers sticky as they entangled themselves in his hair.

"What if you don't return in a year?" Lupin asked in a slightly warning voice, though he did not sound angry with Ollie, but merely curious.

"Nothing will keep me from Norah and our baby," Ollie vehemently swore, as if he and he alone controlled the outcome of his plan as Death.

"I hope you're right, mate," Sirius said earnestly, shifting baby Teddy in his arms, glaring at Ollie as he swallowed hard from his wine glass.

Tonks's face sagged with the enormity of what her friend had done. "Oh, yes, mate, I'm sure this is exactly what Norah wants for her baby, to grow up without knowing its father! Do you really think she wants an absent husband in her life?! Fuck, mate what were you thinking tonight? Jesus—Jesus Christ and Merlin Almighty, Ollie!" Tonks spun on Ollie, forcing him to examine the precariousness of the deal he'd struck with Death. "What if you've made things worse, mate? What if she…" She swallowed thickly, her tongue suddenly feeling dry in her mouth. "What if Norah doesn't want to wait to see you but once a year? I—I know you don't want to hear this kind of thing because she's your wife, but what if she…finds someone else while you're gone? Would you really try to prevent her from moving on?" Tonks stammered, her voice trailing off as all the color in her pale face drained. "I'm just trying to explore all the options."

Tonks illustrated a dreadful ending. Ollie said nothing, though a muscle in his jaw twitched. He simply rested his back against the wall, as far away from the fireplace as he possibly could.

Her best friend was so cold. Like a walking icicle. She wondered briefly if the heat was uncomfortable for him as Death. Tonks cringed as Ollie's thin, blue-tinged lips contorted into a grimace. His breath shallow from his fear and pain.

"What do you think Norah is going to do when she learns the truth, Ollie?" Tonks continued to grill her best friend. "Do you really think Norah's just going to pine away for you 364 days a year until the one day a year when she can see you? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds, mate? I—what the fuck were you thinking, Ollie?" Tonks shouted, seizing on locks of her short pink hair, and tugging on them so hard the roots screamed in protest. It hurt, but she ignored the pain. "I—Remus and I could have helped you, Ollie, I—if we knew what you were planning, but you fucking kept this from us! You—you went behind our backs and didn't even give us your trust!" Tonks could no longer hold back her hate.

Norah was her best friend just as Ollie was, and she hated the way Ollie had gone about this.

Ollie remained standing rigidly against the wall, his face turning into a mask of pure anger and onslaught. His frigid hands writhing into clenched fists. He shook his head as if to try to clear the soft resignation that had begun to set in.

"NO!" he shouted, slamming his fists against the floral wallpaper. "How dare you, Tonks! How dare you say such a thing? She would never marry another man! She loves me, Tonks. She loves me," he proclaimed. "Just as I'd do fucking anything for Norah, and I have!" He nodded vehemently, sure of himself. "We're meant to be together. I'll be back, Tonks. In one year's, time, but I can't stay here. I—I have to go. I was supposed to get an additional day with her, b—but my wife needs to heal, Dora. I—I don't want to burden her. Will you look after her until I return?" he pleaded.

Tonks blinked back briny tears as Ollie strode away off the wall, murmuring a half-hearted goodbye to Sirius and Remus, not looking back behind him as he stalked out of the room, and towards the front door of Grimmauld Place's entrance.

"Ollie, please," she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as she trailed after the cloaked figure of Death, shivering at being so close to him. "Don't fucking do this," she sobbed, her grey-blue eyes boring into Ollie's soulless black eye sockets as if she could will her friend back to his senses.

Tonks's heart sank to the pit of her stomach, as her arm shot out to try to stop him from disappearing.

"You deserve a choice, Ollie! Stay," she pleaded. "We—we can fix this, mate, don't leave! Me and Remus, we'll...we'll think of something, but you have to give us a chance!"

"No. No. I didn't have a choice. Death's magic did. Fate did," Ollie insisted angrily, trying to pry her hands away from him.

This was already fucking hard enough as it was.

Saying no to his best friend had taken practice over the last few years and it was killing him to be parted from his wife and their unborn baby for a year, knowing that the next time he saw them, their child would be born, and he would be a father.

Ollie practically threw her away from him, shoving Tonks backward so hard she almost tripped. He heard her squeak in surprise, but for once, he didn't apologize for his rough manhandling.

"I—I'm sorry, T, but I have to go. It's time," he said in a panicked voice and began walking slowly and calmly across the deserted street, grateful no Muggle cars or buses were coming.

"Ollie!" Tonks called after him, tears in her eyes. "Don't fucking do this, mate! Come back!"

Against his better judgment, Ollie peered back over his shoulder and watched as her vivid bubblegum pink hair began to fade from the beginnings of her roots as though draining away from her and seeping into the void, leaving behind a dull mousey brown, her natural color, in its wake.

Already, he missed her bright pink hair. Weak and knowing it was cowardly, Ollie closed his eyes and Disapparated in swirling white fog, grateful that his tears were indistinguishable from the light cold mist that had started to fall just then.

Once he was alone in a forest clearing out the outskirts of Scotland, as far away from London as he could possibly get, Ollie, let himself collapse against the bough of an old oak tree. He did not know how long he sat in silence, his heart broken, his mind struggling to grasp what he had done.

Bitter tears streamed down his cheeks and formed into tiny little ice crystals.

His thoughts were only focused on Norah and the baby he'd had to leave behind for a year, thinking that maybe it was best for her if he stayed away if she learned the truth.

Tonks was right.

What if she didn't want him? What would she think of him? Hers was the only opinion that Ollie gave a shit about in this world, and he'd certainly destroyed any good Norah thought of him.

The life he'd dreamed with her and their baby was now gone, and he'd never be whole without her.

Shattered once again, now much worse than any damage his bargain with Death could have dealt him, Ollie's anguished thoughts pivoted around Norah and their baby.

How she'd hate him.

"Norah, baby," he sobbed, burying his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes shut as he spoke desperately into the darkness. "I'm so sorry," he wept uncontrollably. "Please forgive me, darling."

But there was no one to hear him.

Ouch. Poor Ollie. Coming up, some time passes and Norah mourns her husband as she has their baby.