Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Written for Pairing the Character - TonksKingsley
Word Count - 514
A Smile So Bright
The Minister's office was… different. Kingsley wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He was used to being in a little cubicle in a long line of them. He was used to people being noisy, to laughter and shouting and the occasional ranting about the ineptitude of the higher ups.
The silence in his new office was far too loud.
He arranged his pictures on his desk, the tips of his fingers skimming over the bubblegum pink hair of the woman who was grinning up at him cheekily, her eyes twinkling like she knew something he didn't.
Tonks had always looked at him like that.
…
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" she asked, grinning like a loon.
"Like you're about to play the world's best prank on me!"
"Who says I'm not?"
…
He missed her. It was like having a limb cut off, he thought. He kept expecting her to be there and she just… wasn't.
The war had taken so much, so many lives, and yet for Kingsley, she was that one too many. She was the one that made him wish he'd fought harder, been faster. She was the one that made him wish that he'd aimed to kill instead of capture like he'd always been taught.
Not that she'd like that—she'd always been the most humane Auror in the office.
…
"Should have killed him when we had the chance," Moody growled, his eye spinning angrily in it's socket.
Kingsley sighed, but Tonks shook her head.
"That would make us as bad as them! We're not here to play executioner, Mad-Eye! We're here to protect people!"
"And how's that doing anything when monsters like him roam free, Tonks? He deserves execution!"
"Then you're in the wrong job," she snapped.
…
She'd always been so passionate—about everything. When she loved, she loved completely, and it was wondrous to be the center of that love. Kingsley had always thought himself blessed to know that feeling.
With just a look, a simple touch, or even a smile, she'd been able to convey her love to him so stunningly.
…
She sat beside him on the sofa, immediately burying her face against his neck. "M'tired, Kings."
"Take a nap, sweetheart," he murmured softly, turning his head to press a kiss to her temple.
She nodded. "Can I stay here? You make a comfortable pillow."
He chuckled, but wrapped his arms around her. "Of course you can."
…
"Sir?"
Kingsley looked up. "Yes?"
"Your next appointment is here."
Kingsley nodded and put the photo down, pride of place in the middle of his desk. He kept her there so she could watch over him, so she could keep him honest, and so he could remember to always have her compassion.
When she met him in the afterlife, he wanted her to be proud of him. Everyday until that day, he'd strive to be everything she'd seen in him.
"I love you," he murmured to the picture.
Her smile was as beautiful as if she was there in the room.