Author's Note: Not going to lie; I was very stressed about writing a Criminal!AU for these two to fill a prompt since conceptualizing them as criminals was a toughie, but I like what ended up happening here. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. You can tell I am not she because #transrights

Warnings: Murder, off-screen

This week's AU: Criminal!AU

A World Without Death Eaters

Tonks slammed the trunk door before circling around and hopping into the passenger sheet. She shut the door behind her and pulled the mask off the bottom half of her face, leaning across the centre console to kiss her husband's cheek.

"Ready?" Remus asked from the passenger seat.

"Yes," she said. She was conscious that her clothes were covered in dirt, but she supposed that was why they were going to scourgify everything they owned when they arrived at the motel they had scouted out a few hours away—far enough that they wouldn't be setting themselves at the crime scene, close enough that their getaway time was reasonable.

Remus turned the key in the car's engine and set off back onto the main road. The car clunked as they did, but when Tonks twisted around to look into the backseat Teddy hadn't so much as stirred. The silencing and soothing charms in his car seat were really quite something; he could sleep through a murder and, frankly, already had a few times.

"He stayed asleep for you?" Tonks asked.

"He was out like a light," Remus confirmed, his eyes flicking to the rearview mirror so that he could steal a look at their son. "We had a very close call when Rosie the Rabbit fell out of his hand, but disaster was avoided."

Tonks grinned.

"I'll feed him when we get in to keep him that way," she said. "I'm exhausted."

"Dolohov gave you trouble?" Remus asked, eyes flitting to her with concern.

"Not really," Tonks said. "I just buried him particularly deep."

"I told you I could do this one if you wanted to watch the baby…"

"No, no. I wanted to kill this one," Tonks said. With Dolohov nearly killing her husband at the Battle of Hogwarts, she'd had a debt to settle with him. And that was what this was all about, wasn't it? This great road trip around England of theirs, tracking down the Death Eaters who had escaped from Hogwarts before they got away for good from a severely crippled, understaffed, and overly bureaucratic and political Auror Department. Settling debts, as two people whose lives had been profoundly changed by the War with Voldemort. Whose lives might have been ruined by it, actually, were it not for each other. And Teddy. Always Teddy.

Tonks twisted around again to look at her little boy, whose sleep was so peaceful and deep that his hair transitioned from soft pinks to soft blues as he dreamed. She had sworn to herself that her son would not grow up in a world of Death Eaters. She was willing to get her own hands dirty to make it happen.

She noticed Remus smile from the corner of her lips.

"What?" she asked.

"You look cute when you get all feisty and protective," he said. "That's all."

"If you want me feisty love, all you had to do was ask," she grinned before reclining in her seat and putting her legs up on the dashboard. Remus hated when she did that; he said that if they got in a wreck and the airbags deployed, she might shatter her legs. She always replied that he was too good of a driver to get them in a wreck and he rolled his eyes and usually muttered something about how she'd be the end of him. He didn't say anything about it this time, he just took her hand.

"You know I'm just happy to have you in any way I can," he said. Then he frowned and turned to look at her. "Why is your hand wet? Is that blood?"

"Whoops," she shrugged.

WC: 610