Author's note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Content Warnings: Canon prejudice; homelessness

The Man Who Can Help

She knew she was being trailed as she walked out of the building, but she didn't risk looking over her shoulder for a better glance. She also didn't go back inside. She had no idea how much this person, whoever they were, knew about her: only that they knew what building she lived in and that they'd been lurking outside of it for the last few days.

She'd alerted the department and Hestia, like the good Head Auror that she was, had offered Tonks extra security. Merlin knew she'd racked up a few unsavory enemies through the Order and the Auror Office alike, but Tonks had declined. He didn't fit the briefs of any rogue Death Eaters still out and about in the world—but now that he was following her? Well, now she wasn't feeling quite so patient or humorous about the situation. Besides, Teddy had already walked to school with the neighbour—it was a rather stellar deal; she walked Teddy and her daughter to grammar school every morning, and Tonks picked up the kids and walked them home every afternoon. Since her son was safe and sound and fifteen minutes away, Tonks decided to investigate.

Let him trail me if he wants, she thought to herself. That's his bad decision, not mine.

She didn't walk over to the park from which she usually liked to Apparate, nor did she walk South towards the Ministry entrance she usually liked to use, even if it meant foregoing her usual cup of coffee and the almond croissant she'd talked herself into getting while she'd rushed Teddy out the door. Grieving her pastry, she took a right and walked towards a residential area nobody had any business going to unless they were following her. Sure enough, a set of footsteps echoed her own. She was definitely being followed.

She focused on keeping an even and steady pace as if nothing was amiss and as if she wasn't plotting as she walked. When she turned right into an alleyway, she immediately pressed herself against the wall next to a particularly stubborn industrial rubbish bin and drew her wand. She whispered a quick disillusionment spell—nothing fancy or particularly powerful, just enough so that she'd meld into the shadows in the area. It was a useful trick in her line of work, and it confused the person trailing her once they turned into the alley. They looked around frowning, wondering where she'd been.

Tonks jumped out of the shadows and grabbed them by the collar, using her momentum and their surprised stumbling to back them against the opposite wall. She pointed her wand at their throat, keeping her other forearm pressed against their collarbone and pinning them down.

"It's not usually wise to trail an Auror," she said. "As a rule, we're suspicious and sneaky bastards who don't take kindly to it."

The man's eyes were wide in fear and shock, bright blue like the little forget-me-not flowers that grew in her parents' gardens so persistently. He was misshaven and his hair could use a wash. She realized that he may be more harmless than she'd assumed when he squirmed and slackened under her grip, but she couldn't be sure so she dug the tip of her wand into his throat.

"Explain yourself," she said.

"I'm just—I'm sorry—I got the address but didn't know how to buzz or ring up or…"

"What address?" she asked.

"2340 Thatcher Row, unit 32," he said breathlessly.

Hers. Lovely.

"Who gave you that?" she snapped. She'd never been very good at the "bad cop" routine, the department saved her for undercover work and safety operations—not interrogations—but if that man had been following her, and might have gotten eyes on her son, well then so help him Merlin…

"This bloke I met when I—when I…"

He trailed off and winced.

"When you what?" Tonks pressed him. "Don't use up all my patience at once."

"When I got bitten!" he spat out, finally.

That was when Tonks relaxed her grip.

"Oh," she said. "You were bitten, then? You're a werewolf?"

He obviously hadn't been expecting less hostility after sharing that news, and a tinge of guilt hit her stomach.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I… there was a healer, at St. Mungo's. He said he couldn't do much for me, but he gave me this address before sending me away. I didn't want to need it, but… it's been a week."

"You must be looking for my husband," Tonks said, relaxing her muscles. "Remus Lupin?"

"Remus Lupin is your… you're married to him?"

"Yeah," she said. She could've said something snarky, but she had the impression she'd terrified the poor man enough. She ran a hand through her hair, which today fell in long coral curls at Teddy's special request. "Yeah, he's my husband. He helps a lot of people who are recently bitten."

"My wife kicked me out," he said with a raw voice that broke her heart. "I… they said he sometimes helped people find places to stay?"

"Yeah, he does," she said. "And company and work and things like that. I'm afraid he's not around right now, though. He's teaching at Hogwarts, but usually he's off on Wednesday mornings If you want to come up to the flat, I'll call him for you. Get you in touch."

He swallowed hard.

"If you don't mind..." he said.

"No, I don't," Tonks said. "I haven't had breakfast yet either, so maybe you can join me for that."

"Oh I don't… I don't want to impose," he said, stumbling over his words.

"Suit yourself," she said. She dug her hands in her pockets. "My name is Tonks."

"Liam," he said. "Liam MacMillan."

"Nice to meet you," she said. "Shall we..?"

He nodded and so followed her home, into the building, up the elevator, and into the flat.

"It's a mess," she warned him, waving her hand to gently move some of Teddy's in-progress Lego projects out of the way. There was a basket of laundry she'd meant to get to yesterday as well as a mess of construction paper and glue left over from a science project Teddy had been working on.

"That's alright," Liam said, keeping his arms wrapped around himself. Since the first thing he'd asked her about was shelter, she wondered where he'd spent the past night. She put the kettle on for him.

"You can have a seat in the living room, I'll go call him," she said, before ducking into the bedroom quickly. She tried to give Remus a call on her two-way mirror but he didn't pick up. With OWLS coming up, he might be tutoring or something… She sent him a Patronus and tucked the mirror in her back pocket so she wouldn't miss it if he called, and then went back to the living room. Liam MacMillan still stood where she'd left him as if he was afraid of tracking mud all over the already disastrously messy flat.

"You can sit," she promised. "How do you take your tea?"

"Umm, black," he said quietly. He perched on the very edge of the sofa cushion.

"Me too," Tonks confessed. "But I'm an absolute sweet tooth with my coffee."

"I didn't mean to scare you earlier, I'm sorry," Liam blurted out.

"That's alright," Tonks said. "I'm always a little… precautious, so I'm sorry I was overly enthusiastic down there."

"I reckon you did scare me more than the other way around," Liam said with a small grin. She grinned back.

"Occupational hazard, sorry. My mum dropped off some tea cakes because she still doesn't trust my ability to keep myself and a child fed," Tonks said. "Can I heat one up for you?"

Liam looked like he wanted to refuse, but then he reconsidered.

"If it's not too much trouble," he said.

"Of course," she said. She did it by hand to keep her hands busy and make use of the Muggle kitchen appliances they kept up for appearance's sake. Besides, no need to embarrass herself with her abysmal kitchen magic in front of a stranger.

"Hufflepuff?" Liam asked. When she turned back to see him, she saw him pointing at the scarf hung on the living room wall. Remus always accused her of indoctrinating their son when he came home and saw that she'd taken down the Gryffindor scarf that usually hung there too.

"Yeah," Tonks said. "Yeah, I was. Cost them more house points than I earned, though."

"Me too," Liam said with a grin.

"We must have just missed each other," she said.

"Must have. Did you know Judith? She was my sister—also a Hufflepuff."

"Oh yeah, she was a year younger than me," Tonks smiled. "Wicked good Beater, she was."

"My whole family's Hufflepuff," Liam said.

"My dad was one," Tonks said. "I'm hoping Teddy will be too, me and his father have a couple of Galleons on it."

"Teddy? He's your son?" Liam asked. He eyed the obvious signs that a child had spent quite some time around here—discarded cleats, abandoned homework…

"Yeah," she said. "Eight years old. Old enough to handle himself but not quite a monster yet—it's a very sweet spot."

"Yeah," Liam said. "Yeah, I remember that age. Is he..?"

She knew what he was going to ask, because it was what people always asked, but the toaster announced that the teacakes were done and Liam swallowed his question. He had gotten through most of his and sipped half of his tea when Remus called her back on the mirror.

"Hi love," he said. "Sorry, I was with some students panicking about their NEWTS."

"That's alright, I figured as much," she said. "I'll pass you over to Liam, and sit in the bedroom to give you two some privacy…"

She sent a quick Patronus to Hestia, telling the Head Auror that she wouldn't be in today, and settled down with a biography of the Weird Sisters' lead singer that Remus had sent over. She read until Liam knocked on the door. When she answered, he was staring at his feet and his eyes looked red.

"He—umm—he wants to talk to you," Liam said. His voice was scratchy too.

"Thanks," she said. He nodded and made himself scarce, retreating to the living room. She turned her attention to the mirror.

"Hey, love," she said.

"Hello," he said with a sigh. "Thank you so much for bringing him in and calling…"

"It's nothing," she promised.

"I'll be over as soon as I track down someone who can cover my class this afternoon and watch my fourth years work on their final projects," Remus said. "I'm afraid he'll bolt if I tell him to meet me in Hogsmeade, can he wait with you?"

"Of course," she said. "Should I try feeding him again or give him space?"

"Space, for now," Remus said. "I'll try to find out what his favourite take-away is once I meet him in person and force-feed him tonight."

Tonks nodded.

"Space it is," she said. Then, she thought of Liam's face in the alley when he'd told her his wife had kicked him out, his shock when she'd told him she was Remus's wife, the way he'd looked around the flat... She added, in a rush before he hung up: "I'm lucky to have you."

Remus gave her a funny little smile in the mirror.

"You say that as if I'm not the lucky one," he said. "The luckiest man in the world, in fact."

It wasn't his usual teasing voice, there was an extra layer to it. Liam must have told him too.

"I'm a better and kinder person because I know you," she said. "Because you let me into your world and because you let me help, sometimes."

Remus softened at that.

"You're already better and kinder than I could have dreamed for even thinking that," he said. "For wanting that. I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Alright," she said. "Love you."

"I love you too," he said.

WC: 2001