Chapter 16: Revealed.

Remus returned to his office and plopped down on his chair. He still did not have any clue on where the letters were from and who sent them and this was frustrating him greatly. It also did not help that all this time he had a feeling of hurt, and a certain coldness coursing through him...but he did not have any choice either.

He was fully aware that he was neglecting Nymphadora for the past few days, but then he was trying hard to solve the mystery so she wouldn't be hurt, and if he relaxed about it even for a moment, he may lose her forever...but if he neglected her like he was presently doing, he will still lose her.

'Damned if I do, damned if I don't.' Remus thought sighing, 'Maybe I should apologise for what I said to her.'

Remus moved over to the fireplace taking a pinch of floo powder with him.

"LUPIN RESIDENCE!!" He shouted into the fireplace, putting his head through.

In a moment, his living room was by his eyes.

"DORA!! DORA!!" He called. "DOBBY!! WINKY!!"

"Mas-Master," The house elves appeared into view.

"Hello Dobby, Winky. Call Dora for me, please." Remus said to the elves.

"Master...Miss is not here." Dobby replied cautiously.

"What do you mean not here?" Remus frowned.

"Miss is gone with Miss Watson." Winky answered.

"WHAT?" Remus yelled through the fireplace scaring the elves.

"Dobby tried to stop miss, but she got angry and she went." As Dobby said this, Remus' brow furrowed.

"Ok. Dobby, no problem." Remus said, ending the conversation.

Remus returned to his chair and sat down.

'Maybe I am just over reacting,' He thought. 'I shouldn't be so hard on her. It's not like they will attack in a street full of people.'

'They did once.' A voice inside him said.

'She will be safe, Irene is there with her.' Remus thought.

Just as Remus managed to convince himself that Tonks will be fine, immense fear and dread filled him, and he knew at that moment something was terribly wrong...

Tonks opened her eyes to complete darkness. She waited for a few minutes for her senses to sharpen, and when they did she realise she was in a dungeon room, on the cold hard floor. Around her were chains scattered, and as she looked down she noticed she was also tied up, but could at least move.

She tried to recall what happened. She was Diagon Alley with Irene when she was surrounded by hooded figures, and now she is here tied up.

'Irene...' she thought worried for her friend.

She had to get out of there. She looked over to her side, for something that may help her escape, but what she saw made her sick. Down on the floor by her, were a human skull and a few skeletal bones. She moved away from there as fast as she could, all the while fumbling her robes for her wand, which she realised was not with her.

"Well, well, well. Hello. We were waiting for you to wake up." A male voice drawled by her side.

The dungeon was suddenly filled with light, as Tonk looked to over to the person who spoke. There, in front of her, were four hooded figures, two of standing with their wands out.

"Where am I? Who are you?" Tonks asked immediately.

The man nearest to her lowered her hooded, causing a gasp from Tonks.

"Draco Malfoy." Tonks whispered.

"The one and only. Funny you didn't guess it when you first told those aurors to check out the Manor. I would like you to meet my accomplices."

The other three lowered there hoods.

"Warrington...Bulstrode...I—Irene?" Tonks whispered, shocked as her best friend lowered her hood.

Irene gave a shrill laugh, before disappearing and reappearing just moments later with a body in her hand that she threw in front of Tonks. Tonks immediately recognised the body as Irene's and looked up in confusion.

"Expecting her, aren't you?" The Irene standing in the doorway said smirking, causing Tonks to look up at her.

As Tonks looked up, she saw, that the owner of the voice started to change and within moments, in the place where Irene once stood, stood none other than...

"Parkinson?" Tonks whispered looking at Parkinson. "It was you all along?"

"Expected someone else, "cousin"?" Malfoy said the last part with disgust. "Of course your friend was a lot of help; allowed dear Pansy here, to get close to you. Get her up. It's almost time." Saying that Malfoy left as Bulstrode and Warrington approached her, grasping her from her upper arms and forcing her out of the dungeons.

"Oh, before you leave," Malfoy said retuning with his wand out, pointing it at Irene, "I believe you would want to talk to her. Ennervate."

Within moments, Irene's eyes shot open and she looked feebly at Tonks.

"Tonks." She managed to say.

Tonks tried to struggle free of her grasps, but it was too tight for her.

"I believe the reunion is over." Malfoy turned towards Tonks.

Tonks saw the evil glint in his eyes, she saw his smirk and she also saw him turn towards her friend and perform the Killing Curse on her. Tonks screamed as the green light hit Irene precisely in the chest and her friend fell down lifeless.

She looked at her friend for the last, her best friend, now dead. Tears kissing her face, she was not aware of what was happening, and she did not know when she was taken out of the Dungeons to the Malfoy's living room...

Kingsley Shacklebolt was in his office finishing his paperwork when Remus suddenly barged in, panting.

"Remus," Kingsley said startled, but was interrupted.

"Dora...Malfoy Manor...Trouble...Hurry" Remus said motioning towards the door.

"What? Remus—Remus you're not making any sense. Relax." Kingsley said confused.

Remus took a few deep breaths before answering,

"Dora is in trouble at the Malfoy Manor. Hurry, alert the team."

"Remus...you are not making any sense. How do you know..." Kingsley started.

"I know Kingsley; I put a tracking charm on her. She is in danger and she is at the Malfoy Manor." Remus said irritated.

"Remus, the Manor is unoccupied for a long time. And if there was any activity, we would know remember. And considering they kidnapped Tonks, there must be some activity."

Remus stayed quiet for a moment, thinking hard.

"We were informed of some activity at the Manor a few months ago, didn't we?" Remus said.

"Yes, that was the day we checked out the Manor. Probably was ours..."

"What was it?"

"What?" Kingsley asked confused.

"The magic performed...what was it?"

"Remus...they were just our spells..."

"No Kingsley, there was someone else there too that day..." Remus was saying when he was interrupted.

"Remus, there's a delivery for you, in your office." A fellow auror addressed him.

Remus ran to office, ignoring Kingsley's calls. When he arrived, a big box was placed on his table, without any note. Remus cautiously opened the box, only to find a crystal vase in it. Just as Remus was about to perform jinx detection charms on it, Amy Herek entered the room.

"Hello Remus, up for a chat." She said moving towards him.

"No actually Amy, I am quite..." Remus started but Herek interrupted him.

"Nice vase Remus, priceless indeed" She said picking up the vase.

"NO AMY, DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Remus shouted.

"Ok Remus," Herek said putting the vase on the table, "I was just looking at it. No need to get snappy."

Remus stayed silent staring at the vase.

"Remus...Hello Remus...Earth to Remus." Herek said waving a hand in front of Remus' eyes.

"Huh?" Remus said confused.

"Are you ok?" Herek said eyeing him oddly.

"Nothing happened to you?" Remus asked.

"What? Remus I think you're not well, I'll see you later. Our chat can wait." Saying that Herek left.

Remus looked down at the vase and picked it up. However, just as he did that, he felt a tugging sensation at his navel and within moments appeared in dark big room.

"Ah Mr Lupin. So good of you to finally join us." A male voice said to him as he was tied up using chains, his wand taken from him.

Looking up, Remus came face to face with around ten people. Standing in the front, was a young man, apparently the one who spoke, whom Remus recognised as Draco Malfoy.

"Draco Malfoy. It was you all along." Remus said hate filling him.

"Expected some one else. I have a surprise for you." Saying that the figures moved, clearing Remus' vision allowing him to see the body strewn across the floor.

"We have been warming her up." A female voice drawled.

Remus was seeing red. He truly wished he was having a nightmare; he wished that when he would wake up he would be in his room with Nymphadora by his side, but he knew this was real, Nymphadora was right in front of him, panting heavily and bleeding.

"Crucio." The voice said again, and Tonks shrieked in pain.

"NOOOO!!!!" Remus shouted and the curse was lifted.

"Care for her a lot, don't you." Remus turned, as the voice addressed him and came face to face with Pansy Parkinson.

"Why are you after her?" Remus asked, his voice dripping with hate.

"Why are we after her?" Draco Malfoy started, "Didn't you realise it yet. And they say you are the best auror they have."

"Revenge Mr Lupin." A voice whom Remus identified as Warrington said, "Revenge."

"Revenge for what?" Remus said.

"Revenge for destroying our lives, revenge for killing our families." Parkinson said, full of hate.

"What about the lives you destroyed? You chose those paths, it was coming all along, she is not the one to blame." Remus said angry.

"YES SHE IS," Malfoy yelled pointing his wand at Tonks, "CRUCIO!"

Tonks withered in pain before Remus' very eyes. He yelled but no avail. Finally, after a few minutes the shrieking stopped, a cold silence fell in the room.

"She is a descendant of Black." Malfoy said with hatred. "She got all the inside information from that filthy house elf. She knew he came to us, and she asked him all about our plans. She is the reason the Dark Lord fell, she is the reason my parents are dead, she is the reason I AM LIKE THIS. CRUCIO." Malfoy finished aiming his curse at Tonks once again.

"Choosing sides with Voldemort was a bad idea. He had it coming. He was bound to be vanquished, and she is not responsible. The whole Order is..." Remus said with more hate than was possible.

"You still don't understand, do you?" Parkinson said with a dry laugh. "We are going to take that whole damned Order. Everyone, one by one. But we had to start somewhere."

"And who better to choose than someone who had caused us so much devastation." Warrington finished.

"And you think the aurors won't figure it out. You think you won't get caught."

"We didn't get caught yet did we?" Malfoy said, with a smirk. "You weren't even able to catch us when you were came her to check for us. You were gullible enough to believe it was a joke. You weren't able to catch us when we attacked all those people, and do you think now, when eventually our circle will grow, you will have a chance against us?"

"What makes you think your circle will grow? Who will join you after what happened to Voldemort?" Remus asked hatred and anger evident on his face.

"You see, we are not as stupid as him. We know how the ministry and aurors work, and we don't underestimate them. All those who crave power will join us, once we finish off the Order, once we show proof of our power." Malfoy finished smiling and turned towards Tonks. "But first we have to take care of you two. CRUCIO." He said as Tonks tried to stand up.

Tonks fell down again in immense pain. Remus felt that pain and he knew it was a thousand times worse for her.

"Leave her alone. Let her go." Remus said trying to refrain from screaming.

"After all we have done to get her, I think not," Parkinson said.

Eventually, the curse was taken off Tonks and Remus asked panting heavily,

"How did you know...how did you know where she was today?"

"How wouldn't I know when I was with her?" Parkinson replied.

"What?" Remus asked confused, trying to regulate his breath.

"You see Mr Lupin, its all part of a big plan." Malfoy started. "We have been keeping a close eye on you for a long time. We started sending your wife threats and even made it appear as if we were doing magic here. We needed you to check it out so we can establish our headquarters here. And when you did, we put the anti-detection spell again, allowing us to do magic freely, and your gullibility proved to be beneficial to us, you didn't even see what type of magic was performed here."

"Then we started spying on you dear wife," Malfoy continued chuckling evilly, "We knew if we lured her into our trap, you would definitely follow. So we captured her dear friend, Irene Watson, and Pansy here took her appearance and entered into the Ministry, to spy on you wife."

"It was us who set off those fireworks in Whacky Gadgets," Parkinson said, "I broke her watch so she would have to get a new one, and when she went in, we blew them off."

"Unfortunately that didn't work, because you went in and found her, or else she would have been dead by now. You must love her a lot; that's good 'coz today you will finally witness her death. Today you finally lose her." Malfoy said with an evil smirk.

"She was in constant guard after that so we hid for a while, but you were already suspicious. Pansy was there when you got married, and observed you all throughout you honeymoon, but we didn't attack since we knew you would be on your guard. When your wife found out she was pregnant, we new our time was near, so we started sending the threats again, and when we found out that you were receiving all of them, we made them even more dangerous. So this morning when you had the fight, we knew it was our chance." Malfoy said.

"It was good she called me." Parkinson said. "And when she told me what happened, I knew she would go out anyway, especially if you got angry with her. So when we arrived in Diagon Alley, I alerted the people here, and we brought her in."

"I didn't think you would be so incautious to use anything that came to you," Malfoy said chortling. "To bring you here, we sent you a portkey only activated by your touch. This way we don't even have to worry about anyone finding out. By the time they will figure out you both are missing, it will be too late."

Malfoy continued, "So Mr Lupin, brace yourself, you are about to witness, you wife's and your child death. One more thing..." Malfoy said an evil grin plastered on his face. "It will not be an easy one."

"No...Leave her alone. Don't touch her...leave her alone." However, everyone ignored Remus' pleads.

Remus saw three Death Eaters turn towards Tonks who was on the ground, panting heavily, her energy drained. The Death Eaters raised their wands and shouted "CRUCIO" together. Three curses hit Tonk and she writhed in pain. It went on like this for seemingly forever, and eventually Tonks lost the fight, and lay on the ground perfectly still.

"And now its you turn." Malfoy turned towards a heartbroken Remus and raised his wand, but before he could say the incantation, the doors burst open and multiple stunning curses were shot.

A few Death Eaters fell to the ground stunned, while the others were startled by the sudden commotion. The remaining Death Eaters put up a fight but were easily outnumbered.

Remus felt his restraints disappear and looked up to see Harry.

"See to Tonks, we'll take care of everything her." Harry said returning Remus his wand, before moving on to the nearest Death Eater.

Remus hurried over to Tonks, and saw Kingsley leaning over her.

"She is alive, barely alive. Take her to St. Mungo's. Quick." Kingsley said, as Remus nodded.

Remus picked up Tonks, her body limp in his arms, his heart breaking. He picked up the nearest object, turning it into a portkey. As Remus was about to leave, Kingsley addressed him,

"I'm sorry mate, I really am."

"It's ok Kingsley, take care." Remus said before he was transferred to St. Mungo's with Tonks limp body in his arms...

A/N: I got only one review for the last chapter...I am so sad... Guest( ): Thank you. I am glad you like it. I hope you enjoy this one too. Thanks for reviewing. Please review. Review. Review. Review. Oh. And take care too. Bye.