Dora and he looked up as their alarm went off. Andromeda looked between the two of them curiously.

"The wards?" She checked and they both nodded. "Anything dangerous?"

"No threat detected," Dora muttered with a frown, turning the alarm off.

And, sure enough, the door was knocked almost immediately.

"It's so late, who could be calling?" Andromeda asked.

"No one with good news," Remus muttered, exchanging a pointed look with his wife.

She nodded; her mouth set in a straight line. Remus had his wand at the ready as he went to open the door just as the person knocked again.

"Kingsley?" He greeted in amazement; wand still drawn.

"I told you how you were right about Harry looking like his father with his mother's eyes that night in nineteen ninety-five when we brought Harry to Grimmauld Place from his Aunt and Uncle's," the tall man said brusquely before Remus could even ask the security question.

He was about to say his answer when the look on Kingsley's face stopped him in his tracks. It was a solemn look. A controlled on, yet with all the emotions bubbling beneath the surface. Remus' heart sank. He'd seen that look before. Many times. Too many times. He was sure his face had sported that look many times as well.

"Would it really kill you, Kingsley to send a Patronus over first instead of giving us all heart attacks?" Dora joked when she saw her best friend.

Remus could see the next words die on her lips as she took in their sombre expressions.

"What's going on?" She asked in a choked voice, her eyes darting between the two of them before settling on him. "Remus, what's going on?"

Remus held up his hands and shrugged.

"I don't know, Kingsley hasn't told me anything."

"Kingsley?" She asked sharply.

In an uncharacteristic move from Kingsley, he started twisting his hands together.

"Tonks, where's your mother," her asked, not answering any of her questions.

"Upstairs..." she began. "But why do you need her-?"

"Just get her," Kingsley cut her off.

"Mum?" She called without taking her eyes off him. "Mum!"

Remus heard footsteps across the ceiling and he nodded at Dora. Sure enough, Andromeda soon came down the stairs.

"Honestly, Dora, you shouldn't shout so."

"How else are you supposed to hear me?"

Kingsley stepped forward still with that look on his face and Andromeda paled so quickly that Remus honestly was scared that she would faint and moved behind her. Somehow, she remained upright.

"It's Ted, isn't it?" She asked hoarsely.

Dora looked between the two of them.

"What about dad?"

"Maybe you should all sit down," Kingsley said, biting his lip briefly.

"I am fine just where I am, Kingsley Shacklebolt," Andromeda said firmly.

Kingsley looked over to Dora who shook her head.

"Tell us."

"Maybe you should sit," Remus said gently, worried for her reaction and for their baby.

But she brushed him off clumsily.

"No, I don't want to do anything except make Kingsley tell us what's happened to dad! Is he hurt? Is he safe? Please, just tell us."

Remus' heart broke for his wife, at the hope and worry in her voice, knowing that her world was just about to come crashing down around her.

Kingsley took a deep breath and Remus held Dora close, knowing exactly what the news was going to be.

They all tensed and it seemed to take him an age to say anything.

"Ted Tonks is dead. I am so, so, sorry."

Silence. There was silence. Dora was completely still in his arms, echoing her mother who was still on her feet but looking like a statue.

"How?" Andromeda asked hoarsely, sitting down heavily.

Kingsley eyed her warily and cleared his throat. "Snatchers. Snatchers got him and others who were on the run."

"No." Dora interrupted them and they all turned to her.

"He put up a fight, it seemed, took put two of them from what we can tell," Kingsley continued.

"No," Dora repeated herself. "It can't be dad. It can't. It's not!"

Her voice got shriller the more she talked.

"Tonks..."

"No!"

She didn't seem to care that Kingsley looked tired and in pain and years and years older. She didn't care that she had shouted at him and rage was pumping through her veins, Remus could feel her furious trembling. And he could understand the anger. The fury. The need to shout instead of accept what was in front of you and cry. Rage was better than accepting what they had just been told and letting grief take over them. And she wasn't going to let that happen because that meant that she wasn't in control. That horrible things did happen and her father was in fact dead and there wasn't anything she could have done. Remus had felt the same emotions himself many times over the years. He didn't even want to believe that Ted was dead. It just seemed impossible to fathom.

And then it seemed to come crashing down on Dora that it was true what Kingsley said. That her father was in fact dead. Killed. Murdered. And she burst into tears. Tears that quickly turned to loud cries and Remus immediately pulled her towards him and onto the sofa. Vaguely he was aware that Andromeda had shuffled herself onto the opposite end of it, looking deathly pale but he was more focused on his wife. Hopefully Kingsley would help out with Andromeda.

They all sat there in silence, Dora still trembling even though Remus was holding her tightly, trying to show her that he was here for her. He would always be here. Kingsley was now sitting, though he didn't look any less awkward doing that, though he had stopped fidgeting and now just looked very sad and tired. Short gasps were coming from Andromeda like she was trying to control herself.

A sad sort of noise escaped Dora and Remus looked down at her, seeing a guilty look all over her face.

"I'm being a horrible daughter," she whispered.

And before Remus could say anything to refute that, still crying, she blindly threw herself across the sofa - Remus releasing her when he realised what she was doing. She all but fell in Andromeda, who jumped - apparently having not been paying any attention to what was going on around her. And who could blame her for that?

Tears were falling thick and fast down Andromeda's face, soaking Dora's hair. Dora could hardly say anything about it (not that she was in any state to) - her tears were soaking her mother's front, after all. And neither of them was paying attention to such niceties, more focused on holding each other as tight as they could as they shared their shock and grief.

Remus felt tears sting his eyes as it finally sunk in that he was never going to see Ted again. Jolly Ted who always had a kind word and a bit of sharp with for anyone. Who liked to tease his wife and get her all flustered? Who was so strong and brave?

"It was definitely Snatchers then?" Andromeda suddenly asked, her voice gravelly and hoarse from crying - complete contrast to her collected and refined voice.

Kingsley swallowed heavily and nodded.

"Yes, it was. Andromeda, I am so so-"

But she cut him off sharply.

"You did not kill my husband, Kingsley Shacklebolt. The Snatchers. Death Eaters did."

"But maybe if we had tracked him down-"

"He did not want to be tracked down. That's why he left," she said, her voice getting stronger with every sentence.

Remus couldn't help but feel in awe of his mother-in-law at the sheer strength she was showing. There was no way that he would be able to do that. He hadn't done that in situations like this.

"That's why he left," Andromeda repeated softly, eyes welling up with tears again. This time Remus and Dora gathered her into a hug as the tears turned into sobs again, racking her body.

"Going on the run was supposed to keep him safe," Dora mumbled.

"It did. From actual Death Eaters," Andromeda said, glancing over to Kingsley, mouth trembling. "It was a quick death, was it?" She pleaded.

Kingsley, thankfully, nodded.

"There was evidence of a duel. Several duels. There are burns on him from hexes and curses but it was a killing curse that got him," Dora sobbed again at that. "He was hit in the chest."

"No sign of the Lestranges?" She pressed.

No sign of torture, she meant. The Lestranges, particularly Bellatrix, would take great pleasure in torturing the Tonks'. Any of them. She had already done so several times. That was not a way Remus would have wanted Ted to meet his end.

"No. There's none."

Andromeda heaved a sigh of rel3if at that, though she still looked like she could burst into tears. Small mercies.

"So, it wouldn't have hurt?" Dora asked childishly.