Chapter 42
Disclaimer: If you have yet to figure out that I am not JKR and hence do not own the Harry Potter series, you need your head examined.
A/N: Well, it looks like I'll be forced to update only once a week now. I forgot how crazy classes can get. Most of my classes last semester were a joke, but this is not so now. Even one of my English classes is giving me grief.
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Nymphadora Tonks Lupin was completely and utterly fatigued. Yes, being in the first trimester of pregnancy didn't help things, but having four young children running around and one's mother to contend with didn't help. So she was waiting. Waiting for Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger to grace her home with their presence. They would be sorry, of that she was quite certain.
Finally, the door bell rang. Bingo.
Normally, Tonks would go for the indirect approach, smiling and shooting some wotchers at them before giving them hell. But right now, her hormones couldn't take that.
"Hello Tonks…" Hermione began.
"HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME WITH YOUR CHILDREN AT THIS TIME OF THE MONTH ? I HAD TO CALL MY MOTHER OVER TO HELP ME!"
"We didn't realize…" Ron tried.
"DIDN'T REALIZE! YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME WHERE I COULD GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU! WHAT IF SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED? I WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO FIND YOU!"
"Nymphadora!" Andromeda Tonks chastised. "That's no way to greet guests. Hello Ron, Hermione. Nice to see you two again."
Hermione smiled. "Hello, Mrs. Tonks. We came to pick up the girls."
"Of course you did," Andromeda smiled, ignoring her still-fuming daughter. "You'll have to excuse Nymphadora's behavior. She's always a little touchy in the first trimester. Well, to everyone but Remus. Though I'm told she saves that for the actual delivery."
"Mum!" Tonks cried.
"Oh Tonks, you're pregnant? How wonderful!" Hermione cried. "When are you due?"
"August," Tonks answered. "But don't say anything to Sirius. We haven't told him yet."
"Why not?" Ron asked.
Hermione eyed her husband. "In case anything happens, of course. I suspect you'll tell him soon?"
Tonks nodded. "Next month. I want him to have time to get used to the idea."
Ron didn't like all this talk of pregnancy. He'd been too young when Ginny was born to remember much, and he hadn't been around Hermione, so he wasn't sure of things. Sure, this was Remus and Tonks' third one, but he hadn't been around them much when she was expecting Sirius. He'd been hunting horcruxes. And Tonks was positively evil when she was expecting James, so he'd avoided her then as well. It still felt weird to think of himself as their equal; they'd always seemed so much older than him, but Tonks was the same age as Charlie, so they weren't that old. Nowhere near as old as his dad.
"How have the girls been?" Hermione asked. Ron was grateful. This was a much safer subject.
"Like little devils," Tonks sighed. "That is, until Mum showed up. They've been perfect angels for her."
Andromeda beamed. "I told them they can call me Granny."
Hermione hugged the older woman. "Thank you. It's always been hard on them. They just have one grandparent, you know."
Andromeda nodded. "Well, the more the merrier. Children, even if they are…what do you call it Nymphadora…surprises are gifts. Few things are more precious."
Tonks pushed her mother away further down the hall and towards the living room. "Well, go get Molly and Jane. Tell them their parents are here."
Hermione and Andromeda went to go find the girls. Ron made to follow them, but stopped when he noticed Tonks was not leaving the hallway. "What are you doing, Tonks?"
She didn't look at him, but continued to stare at the door. "Waiting for Remus. He'll be back any minute. He's actually late, now that I think of it."
Ron smiled. "It can be hard to love someone sometimes."
"I just wish he'd hurry back. Or send word."
Ron nodded. "I remember when I couldn't find Hermione. She never answered my owls. I damn near went crazy with worry. I could only imagine the horrible things that could have happened to her."
Tonks sighed. "Loving Remus has never been easy; he made sure of that fairly early on." She grinned wickedly at Ron. "But it's worth it."
"That's more than I wanted to know."
"Hey, how do you think I got in this condition?" she asked, motioning to her abdomen. "I know it's the same way between you two. I heard what Hermione bought you for Christmas."
Ron grinned stupidly at the memory. "Yeah. That's the best Christmas present I've ever gotten."
Ron's reverie was broken when the sounds of a door being unlocked filled the hall. Tonks threw the door open wide.
"Remus! You're late!"
"Sorry. I wanted to owl, but it would be a little conspicuous." He pecked her lightly on the mouth. "Hello Ron. I'm glad to see Tonks didn't kill you. She was threatening to."
"Mum stopped me," Tonks sighed.
"I hear congratulations are in order," Ron said, smiling at Remus.
He looked at his wife, bemused. "You told them?"
"No. Mum did."
"Oh. Well, I suppose everyone had to know sooner or later."
"Yeah. You need a cuppa?"
"No. Just some rest." He looked at Ron. "Tell Hermione I said hello." He gave Tonks another kiss, this one much more seductive and lingering. "Good morning." Then he moved past the two in the hallway and went upstairs to the bedroom.
Tonks sighed. "I hate full moons. He'll be useless until late tomorrow afternoon!"
Ron pulled a face. "That's more than I ever wanted to know, Tonks. It's bad enough seeing you two snog, I don't want to imagine you shagging."
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Ron. That's not all that I meant, just a majority. He's also a great cook." She moved to go past him, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Oh, and if you think that was a snog, come over tomorrow afternoon. We'll show you a real one," she teased.
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"So let me get this straight?" Tonks asked later. "You were fighting Death Eaters?"
The children had fallen asleep on the pallet Tonks had laid out for them to play on, so Ron and Hermione had used the time to explain the situation to Tonks.
Ron nodded. "Yes. Thankfully, we think we caught them all."
"Think. Shite. There are always more out there. Cowardly tossers."
"Nymphadora! Not in front of the children!" Andromeda scolded.
"Relax, they're sleeping," she replied, rolling her eyes. She turned to Hermione. "So that's why they attacked the Burrow, huh?" She looked at Ron. "Makes you feel better, right?"
He nodded. "They just hit Hermione's parents as well to provide a cover. I just wish Bill had known they were on to him."
"Don't we all," Tonks sighed. "It's hard. Remus wanted to hide me away with a Fidelius charm. He would have too, if I hadn't told him he couldn't keep me cooped up if he wanted to."
Andromeda shook her head. "You're lucky you didn't get killed."
"Well, I didn't, Mum. Really. I'm not at Hogwarts anymore."
Hermione looked around. "It's late. We need to be going back." She picked up Molly. Come on, Ron." Then she Disapparated.
As Ron bent down to pick up Jane, Tonks had a thought occur to her. "Ron?"
"Hmm?" he picked up the slumbering Jane.
"What are you and Hermione going to do now? You don't have to worry about anything anymore."
Ron paused. "You're right. You know, I don't know?"
"Do you love her?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then I think you know the answer."
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A/N: Again, I apologize for the slow update. However, if you had a seven page paper on the differences between light and dark Romanticism and whether or not both could exist in the same literary work, I think you would have a hard time finding time to write fan fiction as well.
Question: Can anyone suggest some names for Tonks and Lupin's kid? Give me boy and girl, please. I know the gender, but I don't want to ruin it. We won't see the birth in this story; this story has about three chapters left. However, it'll eventually come up, either in The Power of the No or another story or one-shot.
Special thanks to my beta jwoods471. Go read her stories Forgotten Memory (Ron/Hermione) and Opportune Mistake (Lupin/Tonks). Also read JohnCardy87's story Harry Potter and the Heir of Gryffindor, which he needs to get around to updating.
PLEASE REVIEW!