A/N: This chapter has a lot of changing POVs, keep an eye out for it!
17 May 1996
"It's time we told you everything, Harry," Dumbledore began calmly. "I would like to impress on you that outside of this room, no one knows what we are about to tell you."
"Only Remus and Tonks know?" Harry asked, glancing at them.
"For a while it was just me and Dumbledore," Tonks said. "I only told Remus because he deserved to know the truth about me before we could even think about a relationship."
"Sirius doesn't know?" asked Harry.
"As Albus said, Harry, it's only the three of us and soon it will include you," Remus said gently. "One day, more people will know, but that won't be for many years yet, I hope."
"Do we start with the time travel or the horcruxes?" Tonks asked, as Harry's face scrunched up in confusion. "Dora or soul bits?"
"Dora first, I should think," Remus said. "Would you like to explain her, Nymphadora?"
"Err…all right. Harry, I'm going to tell you the true life story of someone called Pandora Black, who you knew as your godmother," Tonks began. "It starts in June, 1996."
"That's next month," Harry said, confused.
Tonks nodded and began the tale. Harry patiently listened as Tonks described in detail the first Tonks timeline that led to Pandora Black. Remus filled in what Tonks couldn't, particularly the events that led up to Halloween 1981, or what she'd missed from memories or impressions in her childhood.
When the first part of the story was concluded, Harry sat in still silence for several moments, blinking at them all.
"So you're my sister but also my godmother?"
"In so many words, yeah," Tonks said hoarsely. "Some version of me died once for you and another time to make that second time happen. Focus on the Dora part."
"Is that why I went to live with you, Aunt 'Dromeda, and Uncle Ted?"
"Yes. It wasn't just that there were no Potter relatives left or that Dora had sent the Dursleys to America."
"Thank Merlin she did that," Harry muttered. "Those people are terrible."
"They're still your family, but yes, they were apparently unpleasant people no matter the timeline," Tonks added. "Dora had my blood as much as I had hers. It was the same, so the blood that protected you was Black and Tonks blood."
"Okay." Harry knitted his brow together and sighed. "What about those soul bits?"
"You seriously have no other questions?" Tonks asked, startled. "You just accept this?"
Harry shrugged. "Last summer I learned I had to kill Voldemort. Draco Malfoy and I are mostly friends. Wormtail died for Moony. Weirder things have happened."
"Dumbledore, why don't you take the horcruxes?" Tonks said hoarsely. Remus conjured a glass of water for her and she sat back in her seat, dumbfounded that Harry had taken the news of Dora so well.
"Allow me to tell you the story of a different person called Tom Riddle, Harry. He had a habit from childhood of collecting things he found interesting, which fed into a burgeoning interest in Dark magic."
Harry found the tale of the horcruxes far more interesting than Dora's time travel. He asked more questions on where the horcruxes had been, how they'd been created, and most importantly, how'd they'd been destroyed. It was only when Harry learned that all of them but two had been destroyed that he came to appreciate Dora's role in the seventies.
"What are the other two then? Let's get them," Harry said seriously. "Get rid of them so he can't live forever."
"Remus, as this impacts you as well, do you care to discuss this?" Dumbledore said. He summoned a cup of tea and poured a liberal amount of honey into it, presumably for his own hoarse throat.
"I'll do it," Remus agreed. "Harry, this is why your sister and I waited a while to begin a relationship. There was something she needed to tell me that would affect us, and it will now affect Hope."
"Hope? How?" asked Harry.
"You see, Harry, the night that Dora and your parents died, something unexpected happened between you, Nymphadora, and Voldemort," Remus began solemnly. He then proceeded to explain the miracle of both Tonks and Harry surviving the Killing Curse, but only through the horror of becoming horcruxes themselves.
"This is why you and Nymphadora both have cursed scars. This is why you can speak to snakes. This is why you have visions of Lord Voldemort. You share a piece of his soul," Remus said somberly. "I've spent years – as has Professor Dumbledore – trying to find a way out of this. You can understand why…you are my nephew, and Nymphadora is my wife. I'd give anything to have found another solution, but there isn't any."
"How do you mean?" asked Harry. "There's no way to get rid of them?"
"There is, but it's not pretty," Tonks said sadly. "We both have to die, Harry."
Harry's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "But…but you said I had to kill Voldemort!"
"You are the only one who can defeat him, according to the prophecy," Dumbledore said evenly. "The way you do this is by allowing him to kill you, which will kill his horcrux. He will then be mortal again."
"But…who's going to kill him then?" Harry said, panicked. "If not me…Tonks?"
"No, Harry. The prophecy didn't refer to me. I'm an unfortunate accident and I will have to die first," Tonks said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. "You might be able to live longer 'cause it will just be the two of you. But when you die, someone else can kill him. When all three of us are dead, he will be gone forever."
"We have to die?"
"Yes, Harry. We all have to die."
A heavy silence followed Tonks's declaration.
"When?" asked Harry. "When will we have to do it?"
"In the first Tonks timeline, Voldemort learned that you and he share a connection," Dumbledore said. "I have reason to believe that one day, Voldemort will place a vision in your heads to lure you to him."
"We'll both get that vision, Harry," Tonks interjected. "When we do, we can go to the same place."
"To die?" Harry said weakly. "What if it's next week?"
"If we're lucky, it won't be," Tonks replied. "If you're lucky, we'll go together and I'll die first. You can get a little more time and take him down when you're ready."
"Why can't we just walk up to him and find him wherever he is?"
"We don't know where he is," Dumbledore replied. "Even if we did, he wouldn't believe you two would go willingly to him. He will want to trap you, thinking he has controlled you."
Harry ran his fingers through his messy, jet-black hair. "Who's going to kill him, if not us?"
"I will," Dumbledore said simply. "Even if it's the last thing I do. You and Tonks will make him mortal, allowing me to deal him the final blow. This is how we defeat him together."
Harry breathed in and out rhythmically for a few moments. "Do they know? Our parents?"
"No. I never told them a word about the horcruxes or us. I think it would break their hearts."
"I won't tell anyone."
"You can talk to me about it whenever you like, Harry…there's no one else who knows what you're going through but me, I should think." Tonks reached out a hand to squeeze his shoulder consolingly.
"Hope…she's not going to have a mum anymore," Harry whispered. "Remus…how—"
"—I don't know how I'll cope, but Hope will have her loving grandmother and great grandmother to love her," Remus said tightly. "It's my burden to bear, Harry, not yours."
"We'll bear ours together, Harry." Tonks took Harry's hand in hers. "When that vision comes, we'll go together and we'll do just what Dora did. As long as we remember those we love, we can give them the same protection Dora gave us for years."
Harry nodded and hunched his shoulders forward. "I think I'll go now, if that's all right. I…I'd like to fly on it."
"That's okay. You don't have to agree. No one's making you die if you don't want to," Dumbledore said gently. "You can choose not to do this."
"I'm going to do it," Harry said adamantly. "I'd…like to fly on it, anyway."
"With Ginny, maybe?" Tonks suggested. Harry nodded sheepishly.
"I'm not going to tell her about it but I want to see her…while I have the time."
"You're a good person, Harry," Remus said. "James and Lily would've been so proud of you."
"Thanks," Harry mumbled. "I'll go now."
Remus, Tonks, and Dumbledore watched as the newly burdened fifteen year old walked out of the office with a head full of information and responsibilities.
Despite the burden lifted – that of telling the truth – Tonks didn't feel any better for it.
….
18 June 1996
It was too hot inside the castle. Harry was writing his History of Magic O.W.L. against the heat of the castle. Perhaps, if he just rested his head a moment, he could come to his senses…
He was in the Hall of Prophecies this time. There were orbs everywhere around him, as far as the eye could see. Curly brown hair stuck out amid the white, gray, and black orbs.
"If you want Harry, you'll have to go through me first," Andromeda said fiercely.
"Crucio!"
Andromeda writhed against the floor, screaming in agony. The sounds she made were almost inhuman, reminding Harry of Dora's screams from his earliest memories.
"Not Harry!" Andromeda protested. "You'll get him over my dead body!"
"Crucio!"
Andromeda screamed again, tortured as she was. She begged for death; she hollered for mercy at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
"Hand him to me, and you will live…"
Harry gasped, clutching his forehead in agony. He looked up to see several faces above him – Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Draco all looked concernedly at him.
"What did you see?" Hermione asked worriedly. "Was it another…?"
"I've got to go," Harry said suddenly. "Tonks needs me, now."
"Tonks? Mate, are you all right?" Ron asked. "You're looking—"
"I'm fine. I need my sister, now." Harry was sure this was the vision Dumbledore and Tonks had mentioned before…he would be lured to the Ministry of Magic under false pretenses using someone he loved. He should've known it would be Andromeda. She was close enough to both him and his sister that she would be a target for Voldemort's activities.
Harry began rushing out of the Great Hall and realized he wasn't alone. Several sets of footsteps trailed behind him.
"We're coming with you, Harry!" Hermione cried. "You're not going alone!"
"I'm not – Tonks is coming with me!"
"Where are you going?" Neville asked nervously. "Don't do anything rash, Harry."
Harry looked at his friends' faces. Other than Draco's impassive expression, which could've meant anything from panic to delight, they all wore similar expressions of fear and dread.
"Let me find Ginny first. She…she might be able to help too," Harry mumbled. "Do any of you know where she is?"
They shook their heads and Harry huffed impatiently. "I'm going to get my Map and find Ginny. Meet back here and we'll go together, all right? You've been good friends, all of you, don't ever forget that."
"Are you sure you don't want us—" Hermione began, glancing sideways at Ron.
"—stay here. I'll be back!" Harry ran off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower, where Tonks's old copy of the Marauder's Map was held. If the vision was what he thought it would be, he needed to say goodbye to Ginny before he could go anywhere else. His goodbye to his other friends had been rushed, but he had little time left.
He was breathless by the time he reached his dormitory to find that Ginny was in the Charms classroom. He ran back down to the corridor until he was at the door to the Charms classroom.
To his relief, Luna spotted him from the threshold.
"Ginny," he mouthed, pointing to where Ginny sat next to Colin Creevey.
Luna surreptitiously flicked her wand at the window, setting it on fire. The class scrambled while Professor Flitwick tried to put out the ever-increasing flame.
"Ginny!"
"Harry? What are you doing here?"
"Ginny, I have to go."
"Go? Where?"
"I have to go. I…I'm not sure I'll be back."
"Harry, what are you saying?"
"I love you, Ginny," Harry said, rushed. He had to get the words out at least once before he met his end. "Be happy. I needed to tell you that."
"Harry? Is everything—"
"Just remember what I said, okay? Be happy, Ginny."
"Harry—"
Harry chose to run to avoid any more awkwardness. He hadn't planned on telling Ginny that he loved her that soon or that awkwardly, but with his death approaching in the next few hours, he felt he had no choice.
Harry now ran to the other side of the castle to find Tonks. She would've seen the same vision at the same time. He hoped that she had stayed in the family quarters, just as she promised she would. If he was correct in his assumption, she would be making her goodbyes somehow to Remus and Hope before joining him.
A silver head of hair emerged from the statue that protected the family quarters.
"Tonks!"
"Harry, good, I was just about to find you."
Harry saw that Tonks's cheeks were tear-stained. Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed; she was sniffling and rubbing her nose on her robe sleeves.
"He didn't take it well?"
"Who?"
"Remus?"
"It was just me and Hope in there," Tonks said, her voice thick with emotion. "I can't…not Remus. I can't."
"Are you sure, Tonks? He's going to—"
"—we need to go, Harry," Tonks said brusquely. "C'mon. We can get to the Hog's Head faster than Dumbledore's office."
"There?"
"Ab won't ask us as many questions."
Harry bit his lip as Tonks morphed the signs of her distress away. Her eyes were no longer puffy but fiercely dry and dark grey, just like Andromeda's.
"Are you ready, Harry?"
"Yes."
….
"Mama?" Hope's little voice startled Tonks out of her stupor. She looked to her left to see Hope offering her Woofie, the beloved stuff wolf passed down from mother to daughter. Hope loved it as much as Tonks had, and was offering it to Tonks now.
"Hope," Tonks gasped. She looked at her daughter's small, concerned face. She looked just like Remus in this state.
"Mama?"
"I'm okay. I…it's time."
Hope attempted to repeat the word "time" while Tonks realized the gravity of the situation. Voldemort had planted a vision in their minds – only Harry's, that he was aware of – that Andromeda was being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. It was a trap and they were going to fall for it, if only for the sake of ending the fight against Voldemort once and for all.
Tonks looked up at the clock. It was late afternoon now and Harry was likely passed out or just coming into consciousness just after taking an O.W.L. When he did become conscious, he would know to find her. They would walk toward their deaths together, as they'd planned.
Hope babbled on while getting more items for Tonks to hold.
Hope.
"Hope, sweetheart?"
Hope turned around, smiled at Tonks, and waddled over with a stuffed dragon. Tonks sat up on her knees to face Hope for what she was certain was the last time. Tonks took Hope's face in her hands, running the pads of her thumbs on Hope's perfect, round cheeks.
"Mummy has to go away now, baby. I…I'm not coming back." Tonks stifled a sob at the back of her throat. "Mummy's doing this for you, Hope, and for your daddy, and for everyone who loves you."
"Mama go?"
"Yes, sweetheart, mummy has to go. I know you won't remember this, or me…but Hope, if there's any chance you'll remember me, know that I loved you with everything I ever had. I love you so much. I'm sorry I couldn't stay around long enough to see you grow up."
Tonks let a few tears fall down her cheeks. Her hands had fallen to her sides but Hope stayed in front of her, staring at her with the same dark grey eyes, and with a frown identical to Remus's.
"Mama, no cry." Hope patted her hands on Tonks's face consolingly, making her cry all the harder in front of her daughter.
"You be a good girl for your dad. He's going to need you to help take care of him, all right? Be good for him and for Gran. They're both going to need you, Hope," Tonks said shakily. "I'll be proud of you no matter what happens. I want you to be happy and loved. I want you to live a life without fear of bad wizards coming after our family. I'm going to give my life for yours today…so you can live a wonderful, happy life, even if it's without me."
"I hope there's somewhere I go where I can watch you grow up from far away, to watch you when you turn eleven and get your first Hogwarts letter. Maybe my wand will work for you…you can have it, Hope. You can have everything I ever had. It's all yours now."
Tonks stared at her left hand, which bore the engagement and wedding rings that had once belonged to a different Hope Lupin. She took them off her hand, just as Dora had done with Remus's promise ring and Regulus's engagement ring almost fifteen years before. She conjured a small, delicate chain and placed the rings on it, and then placed the chain around Hope's neck. She murmured an incantation on the chain to provide a little more safety for her daughter.
"These are yours now, baby. Mummy charmed them just for you. They'll keep you safe."
Hope babbled on and sat down to play with a stuffed hippogriff. Tonks closed her eyes and took a few deep, steadying breaths.
"Kreacher!"
The wizened elf popped into the quarters and bowed.
"Mistress Nymphadora calls for Kreacher?"
"Kreacher, I need you to watch Hope for me. If Remus comes by, tell him I had to go."
"As Mistress wishes. Kreacher will watch Miss Hope."
Tonks grabbed a set of robes and her wand; she would need little else for her impending death. Before she went out the door, she took one last glance at her babbling daughter, happily playing with Woofie.
"Kreacher?"
"Yes, Mistress?"
"You'll take care of her for me, won't you?"
"Kreacher lives to serve the House of Lupin."
Tonks stifled another sob and went out the quarters to find Harry. It was time for them to die.
….
Nymphadora Lupin-Tonks was speeding towards the Department of Mysteries. Harry Potter ran just behind her on their way to meet Voldemort for what they both hoped was the last time. They'd gone through the Floo at the Hog's Head just moments before, having been unable to get to the one in Dumbledore's office in time.
The Ministry of Magic had been empty, to her surprise. They'd made it down to the floor of the Department of Mysteries with ease to sprint down the corridor.
Tonks stopped short of the door to the Department of Mysteries, and Harry ran into her, slamming against her body.
"Harry, before we go in there," Tonks said breathlessly, "you remember I need to die first, yeah?"
Harry nodded solemnly. "You first, me second."
"I'll die in the Hall of Prophecies, I think. While Voldemort kills me, you take the prophecy and run up to the Atrium. It'll buy you a little time to get away. If you're lucky you might get to live a little longer than I do."
"I want to end it now. I said my goodbyes."
Tonks scrunched her eyes in an effort to keep from crying. She'd only said goodbye to Hope, having been unable to bring herself to say goodbye to Remus.
"Right. Let's go, Harry." Tonks opened the door to the Department of Mysteries. The Entrance Hall was familiar and foreign at once. "We're going to stand in the middle. I think I've got enough of Dora in me to get the Hall of Prophecies to open for us."
Tonks and Harry walked to the dais in the middle of the Hall. She thought hard on the Hall of Prophecies, hoping her previous version of Dora would lead the Department to recognize her as an Unspeakable in some form.
A door opened and Tonks breathed a sigh of relief.
"All right. In we go." Tonks led Harry into the open room, aghast to find they were in the Time-Turner Room.
"Oh no. Oh no, no, no."
"Time-Turners?"
"I am not doing this again. The last time the first Tonks was here she was sent back to 1971. No, no, no."
"Don't trip, then," Harry said impatiently. "I'll walk with you."
Tonks whimpered and let Harry take her hand to cross through the Time-Turner Room to get to the Hall of Prophecies.
"If any other time-traveling Tonks is here," Tonks said anxiously, while walking through, "please don't send us back! We're so close! We're ready to die to end it all. Please, please, please let us go!"
"It's just us here, Tonks."
"I don't trust myself not to hide."
"C'mon, Tonks." Harry tugged on her hand hard. "If you get sent back, so do I."
"Okay. Okay. You won't go back. You and I can't go back."
While Tonks held her wand out and pointed it around her in fear, Harry led her to the other end of the Time-Turner Room. They crossed the threshold and Tonks breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank Merlin," Tonks said. "I was more afraid of that than dying, if you can believe it."
"I don't, but we need to go," Harry said irritably. They walked together in near-silence while they found the row of orbs that contained the prophecy concerning Voldemort and Harry Potter.
"There it is!" Harry shouted. He pointed up to the orb in question.
"All right, Harry, take it and go. Come back the way we came and get out of here, as far as you can get."
Harry pulled the orb in question and held it in his hand. He stared at it for a moment before stuffing it into his robe pocket. He glanced back at Tonks with a determined expression.
"I'm not leaving you."
"Please, Harry, you have to go. You're the only one of us with a chance."
"I'm not going anywhere," Harry said fiercely.
"No, you aren't." Tonks felt the chill come over her bones. The cold, high voice was unmistakable at that point.
"Harry Potter…at last," Voldemort said softly. Tonks and Harry looked around but couldn't find the source of the sound.
"Run, Harry, please," Tonks pled quietly.
"No. I'm staying with you."
The chill surrounded them – wherever Voldemort was, he couldn't be easily seen and it terrified Tonks.
"Come out, Harry Potter, and face me," Voldemort hissed. "Face your fate."
"Geminio," Tonks murmured, pointing at Harry's glasses. She held the identical pair of round spectacles in her hands and morphed her features rapidly to mirror Harry's. He gasped, seeing a double of himself in Tonks's clothes.
"I'll hold him off looking like you, Harry, but please save yourself. For me," Tonks urged. "You don't have to die today."
A shadowy figure with gleaming, ruby-red eyes came closer in near silence.
"Please," Tonks mouthed. "Run."
Harry glanced behind her, widened his eyes, and broke into a run in the opposite direction.
Tonks turned around to find herself face to face with Lord Voldemort once more.
"Harry Potter."
"Wrong." Tonks flicked her wand in Harry's direction, smashing every prophecy she could see to slow Voldemort down, should he go after him. She then morphed her features back to her own and tossed the conjured spectacles to her left.
Voldemort hissed at her and raised his wand.
"Avada—"
"Not without a fight, Tom."
Tonks flicked her wand and sent a shower of orbs around them both. She transformed into a badger and began weaving around shelves and broken orbs, thankful her paws and badger coat were tough.
Her only goal was to create enough chaos to keep Voldemort at bay and give Harry enough time to run away.
Voldemort wasn't making it easy for her. Flashes of green light came in all directions. Orbs came smashing on top of her head, leaving small cuts in her badger ears. She kept running through the rubble, in between the mists of prophecies now spoken around them.
Voldemort created a wall of fire around them, enclosing her in the space.
Fuck. She attempted to run through the fire but it was too hot. She was stuck in the circle of flame with nowhere to go.
"Face me," Voldemort ordered. "You will meet the same end as your foolish cousin."
Tonks squeaked as a badger. She was stuck.
It was time to die.
She transformed back to a human and turned to face Voldemort. He vanished the fire instantly. His gleaming scarlet eyes were alight with fury. She felt his fury in her chest.
"It doesn't have to be like this, Tom," Tonks said, attempting to muster the same courage Dora had when she'd died. "It doesn't have to be this way."
She felt her heart hammer in her chest and concentrated all her thoughts on those she loved…Remus, Hope, her parents, Harry, Sirius…Dora had once said that if she loved others enough, she could save them.
"Love…an imbecile's pastime…love cannot save you from me, Nymphadora. It did not save your precious Pandora…it will not save you."
"You're wrong, Tom."
"Crucio!"
Tonks felt every nerve in her body cry out in agony. It was like being stabbed by hot knives. It was like being slashed to shreds by the sharpest of talons. It was every pain imaginable from the top of her head to her toes. She screamed out in agony, unable to think of anything but the pain.
The pain left almost as quickly as it had come.
"You will meet the same sticky end, Nymphadora. You are a fool."
"Don't – call – me – Nymphadora," Tonks grunted. Love, Tonks, love them! Remus, Hope, Harry, mum and dad, Sirius…love them!
Voldemort laughed at her. His cold, heartless laugh rung out in the Hall of Prophecies.
"Another waste of magical blood…a pity…you could have done great things with me, Nymphadora—"
"—don't call me that! You don't know anything about me, Tom Riddle! It doesn't have to be like this!"
"Foolish, just like your cousin…she died a fool's death, as will you."
Tonks held her head high before him. She let her hands fall to her sides, in defenseless surrender.
"It doesn't have to be like this, Tom. You don't have to kill me like this."
"A pity…another Metamorphmagus, no less…" Voldemort hissed. She saw the ruby red gleam in his eyes and thought hard on all those she loved.
Remus. Hope. Harry. Mum and dad. Sirius. The kids at Hogwarts. Dumbledore. Save them all.
Voldemort raised his wand just as she saw Remus's face in the distance. She scrunched her eyes closed and focused her love on him and their daughter. She faintly heard the curse emerge from Voldemort's lips.
For Remus. For Hope. For Harry. For everyone.
She opened her eyes just slightly.
There was a bright flash of green light; she saw no more.
….
Harry held onto the orb in his robe pocket with his life. As he ran out of the Hall of Prophecies, the sound of shattering orbs followed him. He'd considered turning around to help Tonks however he could, but the orbs falling from their high shelves got in his way. He suspected it was Tonks's doing.
With every orb that shattered, a new prophecy was released in a haze of smoke and ash. Figures spoke in hushed or entranced tones, adding to the confusion on his way out of the Hall of Prophecies. He ran through the Time-Turner Room, which was still intact. He continued through the Entrance Hall and back out to the corridor to the lifts.
Tonks had told him to run and buy himself more time. Despite her hope that he would live much longer, he knew it wasn't meant to be. He was going to die that day. He had to die that day.
Harry went up the lifts to the Atrium. It was eerily empty. He'd just arrived to the fountain when he saw Dumbledore emerge from the Floo.
"Professor! Here!" Harry cried. "Voldemort – he's down there with Tonks – she told me to go! Professor…I think she's going to die."
"I believe that is her plan, yes. Harry, you can live longer if you wish. It doesn't have to be today."
"No. I…I'm ready. It's time."
Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled at him. A few tears fell from his eyes and onto his long, silvery beard. "You brave boy. You will not be alone, Harry."
"He'll die after I do?"
"I'll see to it that he does. Allow me a moment to secure our area so he cannot escape."
Dumbledore began casting spells around them in the Atrium. One of the Floos lit up green again, and a harried Remus emerged from it.
"Tell him where to find her, Harry," Dumbledore said quietly.
Harry ran toward the Floos. "Remus!" he called. "She's in the Hall of Prophecies…I don't know if she's still—"
Remus didn't wait for a reply. He ran toward the lifts and disappeared into one without a second glance.
"Is he going to be okay, Professor?" Harry asked.
"Remus will manage. He has Hope."
Harry swallowed hard, glancing back at the direction of the lifts. Any minute now, Tonks would give her life to end the terror of Voldemort. Harry would follow soon after.
A sudden, piercing pain blinded him. He collapsed on the floor, clutching at his head in agony. His scar burned more painfully than it ever had and he cried out, writhing against cold tile.
"Harry!"
Dumbledore rushed to his side. "Harry, is it your scar?"
Harry nodded, clutching his head. The pain seared his forehead but it was subsiding gradually.
"If I'm not mistaken, I believe another horcrux was destroyed." Dumbledore's face was set and somber. Another tear fell down his cheek and onto his beard.
"Tonks is…?"
"I believe so, Harry."
Harry got up on all fours and grabbed at Dumbledore's robes to get up to his feet.
"He's coming for me," Harry whispered. "He's coming, Professor."
"Are you sure you want to do this, Harry?"
"Yes. Tonks told me to think of everyone I loved before I…die. She said it's going to help them."
"Your sister is wise beyond her years. She learned that from a different version of herself."
"Was. She was wise, Professor." Harry bit back a dry sob. He consoled himself knowing that he would meet the same end in a few minutes' time.
"You'll stay with me, Professor?" Harry asked, hearing a lift approaching.
"Until the very end, Harry."
Harry nodded and watched as a triumphant-looking Voldemort stepped out of the lift.
"Harry Potter…at last."
Harry swallowed hard and looked to his right. Dumbledore was no longer there.
"You are alone. No one is here for you," Voldemort said softly. "No one will save you."
"I don't need to be saved."
"No? Crucio!"
Harry fell against the tile of the Atrium. His glasses smashed against the tile, cutting into his face and nose. The pain of the cuts was nothing compared to the fire that consumed every nerve in his body. He was being flayed alive. He was being burned by a hundred blast-ended skrewts. He was being ripped from the inside out against the tile and nothing could soothe him.
The pain vanished.
"Stand up and face me, Potter," Voldemort demanded. "Face your end."
"You're – not – going – to – win," Harry gasped, breathless. "Love will win."
"Pathetic…your sister said the same before I killed her, just moments ago…the werewolf weeps over her corpse as we speak…love saves nothing and no one." Voldemort's eyes gleamed red with glee.
"You're wrong!"
"Crucio!"
Harry's skin felt as if it were being ripped off, inch by inch. Every hair on his body stood on edge as the pain invaded every inch of his thin frame. His bones were breaking; his heart was being stabbed, his whole body suffered under the excruciating agony of the Cruciatus Curse.
The pain vanished again, leaving Harry breathless. Where did Dumbledore go?
"You are alone," Voldemort said softly. "You have been fooled by your love…you and your sister will be remembered as fools…or forgotten altogether…and I…I shall live forever in greatness."
"You're – wrong," Harry grunted. "You – won't – win!"
"Goodbye, Harry Potter."
For Tonks. For Hope. For Ginny. For Aunt 'Dromeda. For Uncle Ted. For Sirius. For Ron and Hermione. For all of them.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort bellowed.
The flash of green light hit Harry in the chest and his vision went black.
….
"Professor Lupin! Professor! Professor!"
Remus saw several figures running down the lawn to meet him. He was in the middle of conducting his end-of-year exams for his third year students, an obstacle course with various Dark creatures.
He furrowed his brow, annoyed to be interrupted, and paused his students from continuing with the exam.
"I'll be right back," Remus said impatiently, to the line of waiting third years. "I shouldn't be more than a few minutes."
"Professor! Professor Lupin!" Hermione came into focus. She was followed by Ginny, Ron, Neville, Draco, and Luna.
"Harry! Tonks! They left!" Ginny gasped, holding onto her side. "They're not here!"
Remus's heart began racing. "How do you mean, 'they're not here'?" he demanded.
"It was during our History of Magic O.W.L.," Ron said, breathing hard. "He passed out and had one of those visions. Told us he had to go find Tonks."
"He told us we were good friends and asked where Ginny was," Hermione added, now catching her breath. "We didn't know so he went to get his Map."
"We were in Charms," Ginny said. "Luna saw him first and distracted Professor Flitwick so I could run out to see him."
"What did he tell you?" asked Remus.
"He said he had to go take care of something," Ginny said, shaking. "He said he didn't know if or when he'd come back…Professor, I'm really scared. He said he loved me and told me to be happy."
"EXAMINATIONS CANCELLED!" Remus hollered at the perplexed third years. He whipped back to face the small group of students. "Did he say anything about where he went?"
"He said something about a door in his vision, but he wasn't fully 'there,' if you know what we mean," Ron replied. "A black door. Then he went to get Tonks."
"I need you all to do me a favor," Remus said quickly. "Alert Professors Dumbledore, Black, and McGonagall. Tell Dumbledore to get to the Ministry of Magic immediately, tell Sirius to get the Tonkses, and tell McGonagall to take over for my exam. I need to go – now."
He didn't wait for a reply before running in the direction of the castle.
It couldn't be time yet…it couldn't be! She would've come to say goodbye!
Remus ran through the castle as fast as his legs would take him until he came to his family quarters. Nymphadora had to be there – she just had to. She wouldn't have left without saying goodbye.
"Nymphadora!" Remus shouted. "Nymphadora, where are you?"
"Master," Kreacher croaked, bowing. Hope came toddling over to him with a stuffed hippogriff in her small hands.
"Kreacher, where's Nymphadora?" Remus demanded. "I need to know now."
"Mistress did not tell Kreacher where she went. She ordered Kreacher to take good care of Miss Hope."
Remus bent down to look at Hope. She had a small, delicate chain around her neck. At the bottom of the chain – Nymphadora's engagement and wedding rings.
Remus felt his heart breaking instantly. Nymphadora had gone – she was gone!
He had to save her before she died…she couldn't die, not yet!
"Kreacher, keep an eye on Hope, just as you were," Remus ordered. "I'm going to find Nymphadora."
"As Master wishes," Kreacher said, bowing. Remus ran back out of the quarters in the direction of Dumbledore's office. It was the only place without Floo restrictions in the castle and he was determined to find Nymphadora and Harry before it was too late.
Confused students muttered and called at him as he ran through the castle to the Headmaster's office. He cursed his luck at how far the family quarters were from the rest of the castle as his sides burned from the sudden exercise.
"Peppermint imps!" Remus gasped at the gargoyle. It moved aside and he ran up the steps to the office, grateful that it was open to him.
"Professor! He just went to the Ministry!" Ginny said. "Through the Floo!"
"Thank you," Remus rasped. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and tossed it in the fireplace. Once it was emerald, he called "The Ministry of Magic," and went running out into the Atrium. He realized as soon as he'd arrived that he hadn't the foggiest where Nymphadora or Harry were within the Ministry.
"Remus!" Harry called. "She's in the Hall of Prophecies…I don't know if she's still—"
Remus didn't wait to hear if Nymphadora was alive or not. She had to be alive; she simply had to be! He rushed to the lifts and pushed hard on the button to take him to the floor with the Department of Mysteries. The cool voice announced he'd arrived at the proper floor and he ran down the corridor to find the black door at the end of it.
The door was open and the Entrance Hall was spinning. He took the first path available to the middle dais, hoping it would stop spinning for him to reach the Hall of Prophecies.
Whether by luck or fate, a door swung open for him. He ran into it to see the Time-Turner Room. It was perfectly intact, to his surprise. Worried now that Nymphadora hadn't yet come to this room – or, worse yet, had somehow thrown herself back in time – he hurried forward, hoping the room would lead him to the Hall of Prophecies.
His wish was granted again when he found himself in a cavernous space filled with rows upon rows of dusty orbs. Some rows were knocked over; broken glass littered the floor.
Where was Nymphadora?
His question was answered when he saw several flashing lights in the distance. He had sudden flashbacks to the night at Godric's Hollow in 1981; the lights, the sizzling, the sparks flying…please be alive, Nymphadora, please!
"You don't know anything about me, Tom Riddle," Nymphadora spat. "It doesn't have to be like this."
"Foolish, just like your cousin…" The high, cold voice that could only belong to Voldemort sent a shiver down Remus's spine. "…she died a fool's death, as will you."
"It doesn't have to be like this, Tom. You don't have to kill me like this."
Don't goad him, Nymphadora! Remus begged internally. He was ready to make an attempt on Voldemort's life when he saw Nymphadora's fierce, set expression. She had her wand at her side, standing completely defenseless before Voldemort.
What was she thinking?
"A pity…another Metamorphmagus, no less…" Voldemort hissed. He raised his wand high and Nymphadora closed her eyes.
There was a flash of green light and a hiss of the words he'd feared for years.
Remus watched, as if in slow-motion, as his mate, his wife, the love of his life, and the mother of his only child was struck down by Lord Voldemort.
His heart collapsed. The rest of his body followed.
