Christmas passed without much happening. Actually, nothing had happened. Nothing at all. Which was enough to put them all on edge. Tonks couldn't understand it, they snatched Luna Lovegood and then nothing? Absolutely nothing. It was Almost eerie how silent the Ministry was. They hadn't wasted any time the last few months rolling out new laws and punishments but now they were silent? What did that mean? It wasn't like Death Eaters celebrated Christmas, was it?
Whether they did or not didn't matter but their actions had definitely spoiled everyone else's Christmas. Well, that and the absence of her dad each was also because of the Death Eaters so that meant they doubly spoiled Christmas.
What made it even worse that suddenly the baby inside of her decided that she needed to get heartburn every time she had gravy and whoever heard of a Christmas dinner without gravy? Honestly. It wasn't fair!
None of this was fair. Tonks resisted the urge to kick something solely because the closes thing for her to kick was a table and she didn't feel like having a broken foot. Or a concussion from the falling over that would probably happen from unbalancing herself. If you thought her balance was bad from being pregnant well, having a whole other person inside of her made it basically non-existent. The only good thing was that she was pretty much always in Remus' arms as a result - something she wasn't going to complain about.
She sighed at the remnants of the Christmas decorations in the living room. The Christmas tree had been packed away, as had the garlands, but no one really had the heart to get rid of the paper chain and tinsel draped on top of the walls and along picture frames. It was a little bit of joy they didn't want to get rid of just yet. But really every time they looked at it, it made them a bit sad.
Well, she didn't have to look at it for an hour or two today. Because they were actually going out of the house. A trip, you might say. A trip that wasn't for food or for gathering information. Well, kt was kind of the last one. But it was also personal as well. A kind of two for one sort of thing.
"Are you sure that this is a wise idea?" Andromeda fretted.
She had been doing that a lot, recently. Fretting, that was. Over her, to be exact. Andromeda wasn't letting her worry about Ted show so it manifested as her trying to drive Tonks crazy. Well, she was trying to look after Tonks but that was giving her crazy. Because Andromeda was being kind of smothering and Andromeda Tonks, warm and inviting she may be, was not naturally a smothering person. It was kind of freaky. And not in a good way.
It was actually freaking her out. This was not normal for her mother and surely not healthy either.
Maybe it would be better after they spent this hour or so apart today, give each other some breathing space and all that.
"You ready?" Remus asked quietly, poking his head through the doorway.
"Yeah, just need my cloak," Tonks replied. "How are we getting there?" She asked as he helped her into it.
She could technically apparate now, since she was out of her first trimester. She just had to focus on her and the baby when doing so but she really didn't want to risk it. She didn't feel safe doing so. And Remus felt even less safe side-alonging them.
"We're flooing to Doge's home that's nearby and then getting a bus."
"I didn't know he had lived close to the Potters."
"He doesn't," Remus said. "Not really. It's a forty-five-minute bus ride away."
"Fun." Not.
They did manage to get there eventually. The bus had been late and full as a result. But they got there.
They had had to wait until till the New Year had passed before they could come here. Here being Godric's Hollow. Godric's Hollow. Where the Potters had lived. James and Lily Potter. Remus' best friends. His family.
He had gone awfully quiet as they had walked through the village, not that she blamed him. This was where everything had happened. Where everything had ended, in more ways than one.
Tonks gasped, just like she had that first time she had come with her friends from the Auror Academy all those years ago. Well, six years ago but that seemed like a lifetime away now. She wasn't the same person she had been back then.
The house was the same though. Still in ruins. The memorial was still there, with more names than ever before.
Remus paid little attention to it and was instead was looking at the house carefully, as if waiting for someone to appear.
"Should we look for them now?" Tonks asked.
This trip had a dual purpose, after all. James and Lily's graves but also seeing if there was any sign of Harry after the whole debacle at Bagshot's. The Order strongly suspected that it had been Harry and his friends.
"Huh? Oh, yes." Remus replied, coming out now his thoughts.
They fanned put and walked around the outside of the house. Nothing looked out of the ordinary and some quick spell work confirmed that there was no one else here.
"I don't think we're going to find any sign of Harry," Tonks finally said.
There. She said what she had been thinking. And probably what he had been thinking too. Oh, sure, he had said that they were going to see Lily and James' graves - because he hadn't been able to go at Hallowe'en- and maybe try and see if they could figure out what had happened to Bathilda. But Tonks knew that Remus had hoped that Harry and Ron and Hermione were hanging around here.
Personally, Tonks thought that they would be pretty stupid to do that. This place had to be under watch, being so closely tied with the Potters and all that.
"We aren't," Remus agreed, pulling his cloak tighter around himself despite it not being that cold.
"Do you want to?" She gestured at the graveyard close by.
He nodded mutely and led her over. He didn't even pause as be made his way around the headstones, only coming to a stop in front of the one they wanted. There were fresh-ish flowers on it. Harry, perhaps? Remus conjured some more and as did Tonks. It only seemed right.
"We should get him a grave marker here," Remus said suddenly.
Tonks blinked rapidly and looked up at him. "What?"
He was nodding now, agreeing with his own idea without explaining it.
"Yes, that's what we need to do."
"What do we need to do, Remus?" She pressed.
"A grave marker."
"You said that. But for who?"
Before she even finished her question her heart jolted with the realisation of who Remus meant. How could he have meant anyone else?
"Sirius," they said at the same time.
Of course, it was Sirius. How could she have forgotten that he didn't have a grave. Because... because there was no... body. Just like, just like Mad-Eye. She choked back a sob at both of those thoughts. She had hoped that Remus would be too absorbed in his own grief to notice but she should have known better. Thankfully, he didn't make a big deal of it or try to get her to talk, instead he just squeezed her fingers reassuringly. And, you know what? It helped.