Warning: Character Death.

Consequences

By Neurotica

Twenty

Though his friends assured him he would be brilliant, Remus Lupin was unusually nervous about starting his new job as Head of the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. In fact, he couldn't remember being that nervous about anything in his life. His hands had been shaking so horribly the morning he'd started that he hadn't even been able to get his robes on properly; Emmeline had taken pity on him after a while.

As he'd gone down the lifts that first day, and said good bye to Emmeline as she got off at Level Six (Department of Magical Transportation) as if he'd never see her again, he'd thought about just leaving. What could he possibly contribute to the department he was supposed to be heading that would be worth anything? But Sirius and Arthur had practically pushed him off the lift, telling him that he would be great and that they'd see him at lunch.

There were many in his department who gave him less-than welcoming looks when he entered the doors (namely Amos Diggory). But upon entering his new office, Charlie Weasley called out to him. Apparently the second eldest Weasley child had been under pressure from his mother since Percy's arrest to move closer to home, and he'd taken up residence at Bill's London flat and a job in the Ministry to satisfy her. He missed the Romanian dragons, but said it was good to be nearer to his family. Remus was just happy to have a friendly face in his department.

Charlie introduced him to most of the others in the department, and even told him the story of the old head, who hadn't been very popular, and who most thought was mental. The reason he'd resigned was because of a rather nasty bite from a rabid goldfish. Nobody could figure out how the fish had grown teeth, much less become infected with rabies, but the majority of them hadn't cared enough to delve deeper into an investigation—as previously stated, he hadn't been very popular.

By the time he met up with Sirius, Emmeline, Arthur, Tonks, and Kingsley at lunch, his mood had improved greatly. He never realized how much he'd missed going to work everyday and having something more than Order work to pass the time. He enjoyed his job and the responsibilities that came along with it. He enjoyed the people he worked with—save Amos Diggory. And he enjoyed being involved in the Ministry of Magic. Regardless of the war around them, the Ministry was one big gossip mill on many a day, and it was quite amusing to hear some of the rumors—for instance: Apparently, Sirius Black, head of the Auror Department, charmed his hair black. Remus had a lot of fun with that bit of information.

Many cases flooded over Remus' desk over the coming weeks regarding werewolves. They varied from the recently bitten to brutal murders committed by werewolves. One werewolf whose case Remus was more than familiar with was that of Fenrir Greyback, who had once again made himself known to the world. As far as Remus knew, Greyback had headed underground after Voldemort's first defeat, preferring that to a life in Azkaban. Now that he'd returned, Remus was sure the number of werewolf attacks would increase tenfold—Greyback had always been a well-known supporter of Lord Voldemort.

Remus skimmed down the list of known victims of Greyback—there were hundreds—and stopped a quarter of the way down on one of the names: Lupin, Remus John, aged four years. His friends had always known the story of how he'd received his bite—how he'd gone outside late on a full moon for a toy he'd forgotten and how the werewolf in the woods behind his home had attacked him. When he'd been younger, Remus had felt the need for revenge. Greyback had cursed him over an argument with his father, and he'd suffered for thirty-two years. As he grew up, though, the need to seek revenge faded mostly, being replaced by the need to fight against the Dark Side and end the war with Voldemort.

"Hey, you," said a voice from his doorway.

Remus quickly closed Greyback's file and looked up smiling. "Hey," he said.

Emmeline crossed the office and sat in a chair across from his desk, looking around appreciatively. "Looks good in here," she said.

"Yeah, it was a bit bare, wasn't it? Don't know how much more of the white walls I could've taken before pulling my hair out," he said with a chuckle.

"Don't go doing that. I happen to like your hair." Emmeline grinned.

Remus' desk was filled with pictures of his friends and family smiling back at him. The walls were covered with posters of different magical creatures, and he even had a large tank in the corner with a baby grindylow inside.

Sirius had insisted Remus name it Little Bastard after it had gotten a hold of one of the Auror's fingers with its sharp teeth.

"Kingsley and Tonks have invited us to dinner tonight if you're interested," Emmeline said, breaking Remus' thoughts.

"Oh well, Sirius and I were actually going to work on the map for the Order tonight," Remus replied apologetically.

"Kingsley said he invited Sirius as well, but he declined. He said something about not wanting to be the fifth wheel..."

Remus sighed. "Yes, I think Sirius has been feeling a bit left out lately. Kingsley's almost always with Tonks these days, and you and I haven't been out of each other's company for long, either."

Emmeline raised an eyebrow as Remus started sorting through different reports. "If you prefer, we can spend some time apart."

Remus looked up startled, but sighed in relief when he saw her lips twitching. "That's not what I was saying," he muttered. "Sirius is just..." He extended his arms in hopes they would give him some word for his best friend's thoughts and feelings. "He's used to having me around, and since I've come back from... well, being gone, he's been very protective of me."

She smiled. "From what I've gathered, he's always been rather protective of you."

"True," Remus conceded with a smile. "I don't know. I know he's happy to see the two of us together, but..."

"Do you think he's jealous?"

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not jealous, no. But left out, as I said."

"Well, we'll just have to include him more often then, won't we?" Emmeline said matter-of-factly.

Remus grinned. "As much as I love Sirius, Emmeline, there are still certain things I'd rather he not be involved in, if you catch my meaning," he said with a raised eyebrow.

Emmeline laughed. "Completely understandable. So would you rather just stay at Number Twelve, then?"

He sighed again. "No, I need a night away from the place, to be honest. Sirius and I can work on the map another day."

"If you've already told him you'd spend time with him, that's perfectly fine, Remus," Emmeline argued. "I don't want him to feel like I'm stealing you away from him or something."

"He'll be fine," Remus assured her. "It's not as if he's never cancelled plans with me to go out." He shrugged.

Emmeline still didn't seem convinced. "You said Kingsley invited him and he declined. If he wanted to go, he would. It'll be fine."

Emmeline just sighed and looked at her watch. "Are you almost finished? It's nearly five..."

"Yes, I'm finished. Just let me put these files back and we can go. Any idea if Sirius already left?" Remus asked, piling up his files and placing them neatly into their drawers.

"I think he took off with Arthur a few hours ago. I know Arthur was leaving early, and he said something about him and Sirius going to check out a report on charmed toasters being sold to Muggles."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Why is Sirius dealing with that?"

"Well, apparently, the toasters have been brainwashing the user. They're not sure what the brainwashing is doing exactly, but Minister Bones asked Sirius to tag along with Arthur in case something darker was happening."

"Hmm..." Remus said thoughtfully. "Between Sirius and Arthur, I'll be surprised if they can get past the fact that a toaster is a Muggle object."

"Sirius has used a toaster before, hasn't he?" Emmeline asked, slipping her hand into Remus' as they left the department.

"Well, yes, but Sirius can be easily distracted by the simplest things at times. Did I ever tell you the story about Harry's Mr. Potato Head?"

Kingsley entered his dark home just outside London at seven o'clock that night. He'd be picking up Tonks at her house in an hour, and they'd be meeting Remus and Emmeline for dinner at eight-thirty. He had just enough time to shower, get dressed, and maybe have a butterbeer before going to Tonks'.

It wasn't normal for him to work so late, but the majority of the Ministry had been working odd hours for the past months. The Auror department would be in charge of increased security at Hogwarts starting next term, so Kingsley had been delegating tasks to different squads in order to get charms in place. Sirius was even talking about placing a squad in Hogsmeade with the sole duty of protecting the school and its students when they visited the village.

Sirius had told Kingsley in private he would prefer sending someone from the Order with the sole duty of keeping Harry safe—the dementor incident on Halloween hadn't faded one bit from the Head Auror's mind. Kingsley had carefully reminded him that there were four members of the Order to look out for Harry at Hogwarts—five, when Hagrid returned. Sirius then said he wanted to keep Harry at Number Twelve where he could keep watch on the boy. Kingsley said he, Sirius, would never deny Harry the last two years of Hogwarts, though in his mind, he was skeptical—Sirius' paranoia over his godson had possibly grown to the point of him being willing to pull Harry out of Hogwarts. Kingsley was thankful for Harry's sake that Remus had returned to keep Sirius from doing something stupid like that.

Kingsley went to his refrigerator and pulled out a butterbeer before sitting down in the living room for a few minutes to rest his eyes. He thought he heard a floorboard in the hallway creak, but when he looked, he saw nothing. Blaming it on his mind's exhaustion, he laid his head on the back of the sofa. Even if he had heard a noise, it was probably only his cat coming from his place under his bed upstairs—he'd placed the best locking spells available around his house, and Tonks' small place in Surrey months ago. They were impossible to get by unless one knew the password to get into the house.

His breathing slowed as he relaxed against the sofa. He'd have to get up soon and shower if he didn't want to be late meeting Tonks. But knowing her as he did, she wouldn't be ready when he got there anyway. He'd dated many witches in his days, but none as interesting as the one he was with now. Despite Tonks' habit of tripping over nearly everything that got in her way—and some things she swore moved on their own—Kingsley had become attracted to her quite quickly. Sirius had threatened him numerous times since he and Tonks had gotten together about what would happen to him if he hurt her. But Kingsley was more worried about what she would do to him. Not that he could hurt her; she'd become a large, very important part of his life over the last months. They'd even discussed marriage a few times, and Kingsley was on the verge of buying her a ring—

He didn't hear it coming, but he felt it: a whoosh of air coming straight at him. He opened his eyes just in time to see a bright green jet of light and a cloaked figure standing only ten feet away just before death hit him.

Tonks stepped out of the shower and reached for a fluffy, bright yellow towel to dry off. She wrapped the towel around her body and looked into the mirror, studying her spiky bubblegum pink hair thoughtfully. She scrunched up her face and closed her eyes tightly. When she opened her bright blue eyes, she examined the now flowing midnight black hair with streaks of dark red.

Smiling in satisfaction, the young witch padded out of her bathroom and down the hall to her bedroom. Most of her house was in a state of disarray, with clothes all over the floor, and even in the kitchen where a bright pink bra hung over the sink faucet—she had no idea how that had gotten there. She just didn't have time for cleaning between work, spending time with Kingsley, Order meetings, Kingsley, visiting her parents, Kingsley, and sleep.

Waving her wand, she turned on her wizarding wireless and turned it up as a new Weird Sisters song came on. Singing loudly and off-key, Tonks looked through her wardrobe for something decent to wear that night. Kingsley said they would be going to a nice Muggle restaurant, and she didn't think her jeans, which had been strategically ripped in various places, and rock band t-shirts would be very acceptable. She finally selected a nice button down shirt and khaki pants. She was about to dry her hair when there was a knock on her door. She looked at the alarm clock beside her bed. 8:15. She raised an eyebrow. He's late... she thought amusedly. Kingsley was normally punctual to the point of being annoying.

"Coming!" she called as the knocks became more impatient. She ran through her house, narrowly avoiding a table in the hallway (Whose idea was it to put a bloody table in the hall anyway? she thought irritably). She reached the door and ran a hand through her hair before opening it. "You're late!" she said happily. Her smile faded immediately when she realized Kingsley was not at her door; it was Sirius and Remus. "What're you guys doing here? I thought we were meeting at the restaurant..."

A feeling of dread filled he insides as she saw the looks on the wizards' faces. Sirius' eyes had that deadened look in them—the look he only got when something really horrible happened. Remus' face was expressionless—something she learned he adopted only when something really horrible happened...

"We need to talk," Remus said hoarsely. "May we come in?"

Tonks nodded dumbly and stepped aside to allow her cousin and his best friend inside. "Sorry 'bout the mess," she muttered distractedly. Neither wizard seemed to notice or care about the state of her home. They sat beside one another on the sofa, once Remus moved aside a few of her Muggle records.

"Do you have any firewhiskey, Tonks? I think we may need some," Remus said, gazing at Sirius. The other wizard was staring at the floor, his jaw clenched.

"Er, sure," Tonks replied, summoning a full bottle of Ogden's and three glasses. She poured the drinks and sat in an armchair beside the wizards. "What's happened?" she asked bluntly, not wanting to wait any longer for whatever bad news they had to tell her.

Sirius took his glass of firewhiskey and downed it in three large gulps. Remus sighed shakily, looking anywhere but at Tonks. "Just as Emmeline and I were getting ready to leave for the restaurant," Remus began quietly, "an owl arrived at Headquarters, sent by Dawlish. The Dark Mark was sighted at a house outside London... It was a Ministry official."

Tonks' hands began shaking so badly that she was spilling her drink all over herself. There could only be one reason Sirius and Remus would come to her home to tell her about a Ministry official's death... "No..." she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"Kingsley didn't even have a chance to defend himself," Remus continued hoarsely.

"No," Tonks repeated, shaking her head slowly. "Dawlish was wrong. It wasn't him... He's just running late…" she said desperately. "Maybe it was someone under Polyjuice like with Karkaroff, right, Sirius?"

Sirius lifted his head from his hands with what looked like a lot of effort to look at his cousin. He shook his head.

"It was him... We checked..." he said, his voice barely audible.

"I'm so sorry, Tonks," Remus said quietly and sincerely.

She dropped her glass and the remaining firewhiskey began soaking her fuchsia carpet. Sirius stood shakily from the sofa and sat beside her on the arm of her chair, pulling her to him. She cried heavily into his chest for what seemed like hours, muttering over and over that they were wrong, that Kingsley was on his way to pick her up now. Somehow, Sirius ended up in the seat of the armchair, cradling her while she cried. When her tears were spent, she still kept her head buried in her cousin's neck as she said quietly, "We were going to be engaged."

Sirius rubbed her back, trying to give her comfort, though he had to know it wasn't doing one bit of good.

"Tonks," Remus said quietly once she'd calmed a bit. "We'd like you to come back to Headquarters for a while, so you're not alone..."

Tonks thought she felt her head move up and down in a nod, but she wasn't sure if she'd managed it. Sirius removed her from his lap and refilled her glass of firewhiskey while Remus went to pack a bag for her. Neither of them spoke; Sirius and Kingsley had been very close friends on top of their being partners for nearly ten years.

Remus reentered the living room some time later and helped Tonks stand. "Do you think you can Floo?" he asked.

She nodded. Of course she could Floo, she wasn't completely incompetent. She wanted to shout this at Remus, but her jaw had locked up. In the back of her mind, she knew that wasn't how Remus meant his question to be taken, but she couldn't care less.

Sirius went through the fireplace first, and she followed. When she fell into the basement kitchen of Number Twelve, she felt Sirius catch her and lead her to a chair beside Emmeline. Tonks buried her head in her arms and cried some more. The witch beside her put her arms around the young Auror, whispering comforting words that didn't mean a damn thing at the moment.

She'd been in love with Kingsley. He was the first man she'd ever felt that deeply for, the only man she'd introduced to her parents with any success. Once her parents had gotten over their age difference—which had never been a factor for the couple—they'd loved Kingsley. Her mother was only saying the other day that he was better than all the other wizards she'd brought home put together.

Sometime in the evening, somebody had taken her and her belongings upstairs to a guest room. That somebody, Emmeline she figured, had gotten her into a comfortable pair of pajamas and settled her in the bed. She fell asleep almost immediately—she'd never known how exhausting crying could be—or maybe it was a sleeping draught. Either way, she didn't want to wake for a few weeks. And when she did, she was hoping this would all be just one big, nasty nightmare.