Author's Note: I have now written the ending and, well, let's just say lots of people will die. Not 100percent sure who yet, but lots of characters. I would once again like to thank my lovely reviewers, and to apologise for the depressing nature of the final chapters. I promise no more humour I'm afraid. Anyway, on with the story!

Mirror, Mirror

Chapter 9: The Moment Draws Near

Dear R,

Romance is formal! You can't tell me you've never read any Jane Austen. No, one must not dispense with the formalities until the wedding night, where both parties should be completely confused and somewhat disappointed and I've lost my trail of thought.

Anyway, thank you for telling me a little about your humble self, but you have done anything but soothe my curiosity, in fact I would like to meet you more than ever. Properly that is, in a pub or something, whatever you'd feel happiest with. I'm very busy this weekend, but the week after is pretty much empty. Entirely up to you I suppose, but I feel I should warn you that I shall not reply to another letter unless it is to arrange a meeting. I'm getting rather impatient, I'd really like to know who this man that's got me all of a fluster is. I'm sure you understand.

Almost yours,

Ymp

P.S. Yes, you DO sound like a stalker.

Tonks hastily sent Hedwig off with her letter and set off for her parent's house. She decided to fly, she needed a little time to think. Tonks wondered if she had made the right decision by sending the letter. Whatever she was currently feeling for this mystery man, he could be anyone. He could be that weird lad from the ice cream shop, or a mass murderer, or worse; the man of her dreams. She doubted it would be the latter, though she was curious to know what he would look like. Whoever he was, he would almost certainly be 'complicated'.

Tonks' trail of thought was broken by the splash of water that landed on her nose, which was her own today. She looked up and saw the clouds surround her, turning black as she watched them. What the hell? She thought aloud. It's bloody August!

The wind was building up fast, as was Tonks' foreboding. For some reason she couldn't quite place, the storm . Tonks tucked the tapestry tighter under her arm and picked up speed. She didn't want to face a storm in t-shirt and shorts, and she certainly didn't want to ruin the expensive repair work. Luckily she managed to reach her parents' house before the storm reached it's peak. She was, however, still rather wet when she crash-landed in the front garden.

Her parents had predicted this of course, and had a warm towel and a mug of cocoa waiting for her. As they sat down in the living room and Tonks warmed up slowly, she pulled out the rolled up tapestry and a rather soggy card. She stood up and handed them to her mother and hugged her, trying not to get her wet.

"Happy birthday mum," she said with her biggest grin, then went to hug her father. Tonks returned to her chair. Andromeda reached for her wand and dried off the card, tapestry and daughter with a quick flick of her wrist. Ted perched on the arm of Andromeda's chair and watched as she unrolled the thick fabric. She studied it silently for what seemed like several minutes, her expression unchanging. Tonks shuffled forward in her seat nervously. Then Andromeda stood up and thrust the tapestry into her husband's hands so fast that Ted was now clutching his chest and looking rather worried. Andromeda stepped forward and pulled her daughter into her arms.

"It's perfect Nymphadora! Thank you dear." She said, as Tonks turned blue through no will of her own.

"Pleasure," she coughed. Her mother let her go and walked to the window. Outside, the storm raged, lightning flashes far in the distance as the rain pounded on the glass.

"Family's a strange thing. You might not always like them, but they're always there." Her mother said, gazing into the storm. Tonks had often wondered whether some of the 'seeing' genes lurking in the Black family had been passed to her mother. She was sure she didn't have visions or things like that, but sometimes the things she said made Tonks wonder.

Andromeda's wistfulness was interrupted by Ted. He held aloft the tapestry and looked even more worried than before.

"Anything we should know?" He asked. Both Tonks and her mother examined the tapestry in detail. The first burn hole had gone, replaced by Sirius' name, birth and death dates. The second hole had also gone, in it's place was Andromeda's name. There were two new branches, one read 'Edward Tonks', the other 'Nymphadora Tonks'. It was the other name that had caused Ted's suspicions however. Leading off from Nymphadora, another name had quite clearly sewn itself. It read 'R. L.'

Both her parents were now giving her stern, parent-like looks.

"Er, well, there might be someone," she stammered, trying not to choke on her cocoa, to take in the second initial and still get herself off the hook. "I'm..we're..not sure yet."

"Well this thing certainly seems to be," Andromeda noted, sounding a little too like her great aunt's awful portrait.

"It's complicated," she said truthfully. "But don't worry, you'll be the first to know if it becomes official."

There was an awkward silence. Andromeda certainly appreciated that relationships could get extremely complicated and so did not feel justified in commenting, but Ted on the other hand just wanted to be sure of a few things before he could set his mind at rest.

"It is a 'he' isn't it sweetheart?" Given Tonks' short hair, scruffy appearance and general lack of femininity, Ted was not the first to have been suspicious.

"Dad!"

"Edward!" Mother and daughter exclaimed together. Tonks was clearly not destined to finish her drink. She sat it down on the floor next to her, wiping down her t-shirt with a tissue.

"Yes it is a 'he' dad," she growled, fists clenching. "And it wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't, would it?"

"No no, course not," Ted replied hastily, moving to collect up the mugs and take them to the kitchen. Once he was out of earshot, her mother took her aside.

"Nymphadora dear," she began. "Yours is a dangerous enough profession during peace time, do you really think it's a good idea to get involved with someone now?"

"That's exactly why I'm not sure about it." Tonks spoke from her heart for the first time in a long while. "You and dad know about risks, you though it was worth keeping, however long it'd last. Well I know the war's coming, and I don't expect to see it out. Don't you think I deserve a scrap of happiness until then? Isn't it up to me to decide if he's worth the pain?"

Andromeda simply nodded. Her daughter was right, sometimes you just had to make the leap.

"Go child," she told her daughter. "Take your risk."

Tonks managed to calm down and compose herself during the journey back, making use of several charms to keep the elements at bay. There was alot for her to process. Being honest was tiring work. 'R. L.' she thought. Remus? No, he would have said something. Wouldn't he? Well who else could it be? She didn't want to think about the alternatives.

She landed at the end of Grimmauld Place and walked up the road to the gap between number 11 and number 13. As the house began to appear, Tonks stepped in a puddle and slipped, falling to the floor and hitting herself in the face with her old broom.

She sat for several minutes sulking in the puddle before finding the effort to stand up again, by which time Hedwig had dropped a letter in her lap and perched herself on Tonks' shoulder. She stood up and looked at the letter. It was him. Tonks knew what she had to do and she had to do it soon. You have to seize your moments, because that's all life is, a series of moments. What film was that from? Tonks remembered Sirius' last days and felt that to be very true. She had never really spoken to him about his incarceration, or his early childhood but it didn't take a genius to know that his life had been mostly unpleasant. It was easy to understand his frustrations when the only happy memories he had were of a dead man, a traitor and a werewolf.

Tonks sighed and wandered through the now visible doorway, staring down at the parchment.

"Oooh! Someone's got a boyfriend!" The twins chimed together, pointing at the letter in Tonks' hand having noticed the dreamy look in her eyes.

"Honestly, you two sound more like a pair of old women every time I see you," She laughed, quickly hiding the paper in her jeans. She greeted everyone in turn as she saw them. Must be important, she thought. She didn't think she'd ever seen all the Order members at a single meeting. But the way Molly was behaving, you would have thought it was a children's party, not a top-secret militia meeting. The kitchen had been turned into a walk-in buffet, the living room was filled with Order members munching on sandwiches and most had a glass of wine in their hand. Perhaps the war was over, she wondered. Maybe You-Know-Who fell down some steps and killed himself and now this whole sorry mess was at an end. His activity had been very quite since the Department of Mysteries. Suspiciously quiet in fact. Suddenly the fear brought on by the bizarre storm was given a name. The war was upon them.