Remus was pacing. And pacing. And pacing. He was going to wear a hole in the floorboards if he kept this up. Though he probably wouldn't appreciate that being pointed out right now.

At least Tonks knew the cause of his pacing - the newspaper. Oh, the newspaper. What wasn't wrong with the newspaper today? To be honest, Tonks was shocked that it took this long for the Daily Prophet to report something like this. It had been very quiet the past few days since... since everything happened. It had been a very quiet takeover. Which was extremely disturbing.

But yes, alone there across the front page was Harry's face with accusations about what happened that night more than a month ago. Nearly two months, actually. Had it already been almost two months since Dumbledore died?

Well, okay, that article hadn't exactly been the cause of the pacing; it had been the cause of the growling from Remus. Because that Iiterally what he did when he was annoyed or angry about something. Yes, it was funny and adorable. To her anyway. No, the growling was because she wouldn't let him rip the newspaper to shreds because of that article. She hadn't read the paper yet, as pointless as that was these days, she still liked to do it. Maybe it was stupid but Tonks did live in the vain hope that it would actually report something real. And surely there would have to be an announcement at some point about Voldemort's takeover beyond saying that Thicknesse had taken over because of Scrimgeour's death. Death. Not murder. Of course, he wasn't murdered. But today was not the day of useful news being reported.

And then that article on page two and she had let out a growl. Her reaction to that had been far worse than her reaction to the headline. Her heart had gone straight to her mouth when she saw the article.

At least they had been expecting something like the headline to happen. Of course, it would happen, now that Dumbledore was dead. Somehow, Tonks was getting used to that fact now. It didn't seem so surreal, after everything else that had happened. Was that strange? Depressing?

Muggleborn Register. Why was there a need for one? Voldemort wanted one because of their apparent theft of magic. Which was bollocks. But that was all the reasoning that was required. And there was no way that could go wrong. Even in her head she was sarcastic in an effort to deflect the pain and anxiousness. Anything but deal with her feelings. What was going to happen to her dad?

Yes, Voldemort was now being blatant about making a note of everyone he wanted to get rid of. Fantastic. Not.

Tonks desperately wanted to contact her parents about this and irrationally check if they were okay. Which they wouldn't be. Her dad would have to go on that list. There was no way her dear aunts would let him not be on that list. It didn't even bear thinking about what they would do to the people on that list.

She reread the article. And then she did again. She tried for a third time but her eyes blurred with tears. She was sure if they were ones of anger or pain or sadness. It didn't matter. It wasn't until Remus gently took the paper out of her hands that Tonks realised that her hands were shaking.

The paper crumpled in his hands as a dark look passed over his face when he read it. Tonks was honestly surprised that he didn't rip it to shred right there and then.

"A Register." He said in a deadly calm voice, like he was forcing himself not to react.

"Yep." She swallowed in an effort to control herself. "Hardly surprising, is it?"

Remus gave her a long look and then kind of... deflated? He looked so defeated. The paper actually fell to the floor. Tonks wondered if they should stomp on it or would burning it make them feel better?

"They think that Muggleborns are stealing magic," she even tried to put on an eye roll there but couldn't quite manage it.

"They're just trying to legitimise it. They don't really believe that," Remus said, going back to his pacing and this time also running a hand through his now thoroughly dishevelled hair and plucking at his cuffs, which was not helping the whole look he had going on.

"I know that."

"What are they even going to do? Imprison them? Try to "persuade" them?"

"Kill them?" Tonks said softly which made Remus stop.

"Oh, Dora..."

He came over to her and she stood to meet him in the hug he was offering. He couldn't offer anything else because, well, they didn't know what was going to happen, did they? There was nothing that he could reassure her on.

They stood like that for a few minutes, Tonks just soaking the affection up. She hadn't realised it until now but during the last few days they hadn't really been touching one another. Not intentionally, they hadn't been deliberately avoiding each other but they hadn't been physically close either. She hadn't realised she had missed it until now so she took full advantage of it by burying her head in his chest. He clutched at her, like he was trying to hold on.

The moment didn't last. It couldn't. They broke apart, wondering what to do next. What to say next. Was there anything they could say or do to make this better? Tonks couldn't see how. And Remus looked like he was trying jars to come up with something as well if the turmoil on his face was anything to go by. Did she look like that? She felt like it. But she also didn't know how she felt. Did her hair even reflect this? Huh, flickering between red and blue. Figured that even her hair was confused. Great.

"I need to go," Remus said suddenly., looking at her properly for the first time since he started the pacing.

He had come to some sort of decision. Too bad Tonks had no idea what that decision was.

"Go?" Tonks asked.

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, not answering her question.

"Remus? Where do you need to go?"

He wasn't about to do something stupid, was he? They couldn't afford to be stupid at a time like this. None of them could.

"I, I-"

"Remus."

He looked so lost. So helpless. Yet, frustrated and angry as well. She was feeling all these things as well and she hated them. But they both reacted to these emotions differently. She let them build up and build up and let anger control her, usually ending up shouting at someone or goading them into a fight. Remus shied away and threw himself into a distraction of some kind.

And was this leaving a distraction? Did he need to run? Get into a different environment? Go scream somewhere? That's one was tempting for her as well. Screaming was a good stress reliever.

But Remus didn't say he needed to do any of those things. He didn't say anything at all as he put his travelling robe on and clutched at the wand in his pocket. Tonks watched all this in uncharacteristic silence. What was he doing?

"Remus, you need to say something."

Hopefully something that explained himself but he didn't. All he did was shake his head again and somehow looked even more helpless.

"I just... I need... I need to go."

With that, he pushed open the back door and Tonks watched as he apparated away, feeling like she had missed something extremely important.