Chapter Forty-Four – A Bit of Peace

Tonks watched in fascination as Severus dressed for the Hogwarts graduation ceremony. The professors all wore elaborate matching dress robes. The robes were full of buckles and buttons, and Severus looked like he was having a hard time getting into it.

"Do you need some help?" Tonks asked.

Severus shook his head quickly. "I've been getting into this robe for sixteen years, Dora. I know what to do," he told her.

"Just offering," Tonks said casually. Neither one said anything, but they both knew today was a milestone day. After the graduation ceremony, Tonks and Severus would be officially moving into their own apartment. Severus' room was practically empty. The books, vials and the chess table were already settled into their new home.

Then Severus would give Minerva the key, and this chapter of their lives would be over.

Hand in hand, they walked through the hallways to the Great Hall. The students were not there yet, but family and friends were already crowding the Great Hall. Severus gave her hand a squeeze and walked over to join the other professors. Arthur and Molly Weasley waved to Tonks, and she went to sit with them.

Tonks couldn't help but think how different the atmosphere was from her own graduation. When she graduated, the students had been practically bouncing off of the ceiling. But the energy today seemed very low key.

Molly started grilling Tonks about details of her pregnancy, which Tonks was more than happy to share. She had been to a Healer and knew now that she was two months pregnant. The Healer advised her that she would most likely need to go on bed rest after seven months. Tonks was very impressed with the Healer. He had researched very old St. Mungo's records for other metamorphs who had given birth. All of them had needed bed rest, and there was no reason to doubt that Tonks wouldn't be the same.

The familiar graduation music could be heard, and the procession started. First the professors entered the Great Hall, the last being Headmaster McGonagall. Then everyone in the Great Hall rose to their feet as the graduates entered.

The entered one house at a time, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw followed by Gryffindor. They may enter in different houses, but they all wore the same robe, with no distinction between houses.

Tonks first looked for Draco, who was near the end of the Ravenclaw line. Then she saw Harry and Ron, marching next to each other, not one in front or behind the other.

The ceremony was brief, due to the fact that Professor McGonagall requested that there be no applause after each graduate's name was called, but one long round of applause when everyone had crossed the line. Tonks suspected it was to not have a huge round of applause when Harry Potter crossed the line.

Tonks clapped as loudly as anyone when the last graduate's name was called. The applause must have lasted for five minutes. Then everyone was free to find their family. Tonks maneuvered through the crowd to Draco, who was standing by himself. They shared an awkward embrace, and then were quickly joined by Tonks' parents. They hadn't mentioned they would be there.

She watched as Severus shook hands of some Slytherin students. A great deal of them wouldn't even acknowledge that Severus was there. But then she saw a sight that she would never forget.

Harry Potter walked up to Severus of his own free will. They spoke for only a moment, but then Harry extended his hand. Severus seemed to stare at the hand for a moment, but then shook Harry's hand heartily. And then they went their separate ways.

A few students said hello to Draco, but he was left mainly alone. Severus joined them after a few minutes, and put his arm around her.

"I think Draco's ready to leave," Tonks whispered to Severus. He nodded and walked over to Professor McGonagall. They spoke for a few minutes, and then Severus handed her an envelop. He nodded to several other teachers and then walked back.

"Let's go," he said. Only Tonks could hear the hint of sadness in his voice.

Draco suggested that the family have dinner first, before going to the apartment. Tonks could see the tears in her mother's eyes when Draco said family. So the five of them walked to the Three Broomsticks for supper. The evening ended too soon. Her mother seemed to be making an effort with Severus. She wasn't glaring nearly as much as she once did. Tonks suspected this was because, after all, Severus did help in providing the future grandchild.

Tonks' parents apparated, leaving Tonks, Severus and Draco standing in the Hogsmeade street. Draco would be living with them until the end of August, when he would leave for Romania for the dragon reserve program.

"Shall we?" Tonks asked cheerfully.

"Can you apparate?" Draco asked. "I thought if you were knocked-up you couldn't apparate."

"Such a lovely term," Tonks said, rolling her eyes. "I can apparate for another three months. Then I have to stop."

Draco nodded, and the three apparated outside the apartment building. Quietly, they walked up the stairs to the second floor, and stood outside the apartment.

"Draco, could you give us a minute?" Severus asked seriously. Draco nodded and walked to the end of the hallway.

"Why'd you send him away?" Tonks asked, as Severus opened the door with the muggle keys they had been given.

She started to go inside, but Severus grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Before Tonks could say anything, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold, while Tonks giggled the entire way.

He didn't put her down until they reached the kitchen. "Welcome home," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Same to you," Severus whispered, lowering his head for a kiss. They kissed for a moment, but then were interrupted by Draco.

"I'm not going to be walking in on the two of you shagging in the kitchen all the time, am I?" Draco asked, his eyebrow raised. Tonks picked up a cloth napkin and threw it at him.

"Ooh…attack by napkin. I'm real scared, Tonks," Draco said with a slight smile on his face.

Tonks threw another one.

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Four days later, Tonks, Severus and Draco stood outside the Ministry of Magic. Draco had a troubled look on his face.

"I shouldn't be here," he said quietly. "I don't belong."

Severus put his arm on the young man's shoulder. "You fought in the Final Battle, Draco. You have every right to be here tonight."

Tonight was the official Memorial for the victims of Lord Voldemort, and to honor the ones who had lost their lives fighting him. After a few minutes of debating, Draco went in with them, but only after it was agreed that they would sit in the last row, closest to the door, in case Draco became uncomfortable. Tonks knew she should go sit with the rest of the Aurors. She was after all, wearing her official dress robe. But she didn't want to leave Severus' side and ended up staying with him.

Madam Bones stood at a small podium, with a huge list of names behind her. When the memorial started, she announced that the list were the names of every wizard and muggle that had been killed during Voldemort's reign of terror. Severus almost crushed her hand when Madam Bones made mention of the Halloween attack on muggles, the same attack that Fudge refused to believe was cause by Death Eaters. The same attack where Severus had killed innocent people for the first time in eighteen years.

The names were to be engraved in a plaque to be displayed in the foyer of the Ministry of Magic. With tears in her eyes, Tonks made a note to have the name David Watson, the homeless man she had killed last year to prove her loyalty to the Death Eaters, added to the list.

Over the past two years, one hundred and ninety-three people had been killed, with another seventeen killed during the Final Battle. Madam Bones mentioned that that number didn't include the countless Death Eaters that had been lured to the darkness, and killed during battles. Tonks glanced at Draco, and saw that he was fighting hard not to cry. Gently, she took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

They sat like that, Tonks in the middle, holding hands with both Severus and Draco on either side of her for the rest of the ceremony. Tonks was able to hold back her tears until there was a special mention of Professor Dumbledore. She started openly crying then, crying for the man she had learned to love over the past year as she learned who he was. Muggles have a saying, you can never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. Literally, over the past year, Tonks had walked at least a mile in Albus' shoes, and she missed him, and missed what an amazing man he was.

Tonks and Remus had planned on inviting everyone from the Order to Headquarters for one last night. Headquarters was set to be destroyed in two weeks, per Harry's wishes. He seemed to think that was what Sirius would have wanted.

She and Remus, along with Severus' help, had cleaned Headquarters and tried to make it appear festive. Almost every single Order member said they would be there. Tonks asked if Draco wanted to come, but he said he would prefer to be alone, and apparated back to the apartment.

Tonks and Severus arrived first, and opened bottle after bottle of wine, knowing everyone desperately needed a drink. Tonks looked at the wine longingly, knowing she couldn't have any.

The crowd was quiet at first, catching up with each other's lives. Remus announced that he had been hired as the Defense Against Arts teacher at Hogwarts, now that he could legally work again. The first toast of many that evening was in honor of Remus.

After an hour of talking, Tonks felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She excused herself from the conversation she was in, and ran upstairs to her old bathroom.

Five minutes later, she left the bathroom and performed a breath cleansing spell on herself. She was surprised to see Harry Potter exit Remus' old room, holding a duffle bag.

"Where are you going?" Tonks asked him curiously.

Harry looked startled to see her. Startled and incredibly guilty. He stared at the floor for a moment. "I'm leaving," he said suddenly.

"Where are you going?" Tonks repeated.

"I'm leaving England," he said softly. "I can't stay here."

"Why not?" Tonks asked simply.

"There's no point of being here," Harry said, his shoulders stooped. "I've fulfilled my destiny in the wizarding world."

"Does everyone know?" Tonks asked. She knew that Harry was currently staying at the Burrow.

"Neville knows…and now you," Harry said quietly.

"You haven't told Ginny?" Tonks asked. "If you're leaving Ginny, you need to tell her."

"She'll find out," Harry said uncertainly.

"She'll find out from you," Tonks said forcefully. "If you love her at all, which I know you do, you'll be man enough to tell her you're leaving. To her face."

Harry finally looked up from the floor into Tonks' eyes. "You're right," he said finally. Together they walked down the stair case into the main hall. Sounds of livelihood could be heard from the study. Tonks decided that the wine was finally being consumed in great quantities.

"I can't go in there," Harry said. "Could you ask Ginny to come out to the hall?"

"You promise you'll be here when she comes out?" Tonks asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I swear, Tonks," Harry said. Tonks nodded, and then impulsively gave Harry a hug, wondering if she would ever see the boy-who-lived again.

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Two months later, Tonks let herself in the apartment to find Severus locked up in the den, working on some potion or another. He was still unemployed, but had been offered two different jobs, which he then turned down, saying they weren't the right one yet.

Tonks had just gotten her first real hair cut in quite a long time. She couldn't even remember the last time she actually had to pay money to get a hair cut.

"Is that you, Dora?" Severus yelled from the den.

"If it's not, we have a big problem," Tonks laughed. She settled herself on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. A few minutes later, Severus came out of the den.

"I keep thinking it could be Draco," Severus admitted. Draco had left for Romania just four days ago. They had both gotten used to him living here.

"Just little ol' me," Tonks said, stretching her arms over her head. Severus sat down next to her and placed his hand on her mid-section. She was now four months pregnant. Not far enough along to have a pronounced bump, but she was definitely thickening around the middle.

"I love you," he said suddenly.

Tonks smiled and placed her hand on his. "I love you, too."

"I realized something the other day. And I've been trying to figure out a time to bring it up," Severus said with a slight smile on his face.

"Oh Merlin, what is it?" Tonks asked warily.

"I gave you a wedding present, correct?" Tonks nodded. "But you never gave me one."

Tonks jumped up suddenly. "I can't believe I forgot!" she cried, running into their bedroom. She glanced at the light blue bedspread and smiled. It had taken a lot to convince Severus to use a different bedspread other than his old black one. But Tonks had managed to convince him in the end.

She riffled through her underwear drawer and found the small package that she stored there for what seemed like ages. Running back, Tonks jumped on the couch, and straddled herself on Severus' lap, her hands behind her back.

"You have an actual gift for me?" Severus asked. "And here I was going to make you yell my name from the window."

Tonks threw back her head and laughed. "I'll do that for you anyways," Tonks told him. She gave him the small package. "I found this during that not-so-happy time when we weren't speaking. I came really, really close to throwing it out. But I kept it, just for you."

Severus opened up the package, which contained one chocolate frog card. "This isn't what I think it is," Severus said softly.

Tonks nodded happily. Last January, she had tried to console herself with candy and bought a chocolate frog. The card inside was of Falco Aesalon, the first recorded example of an animagus. It was one of the three cards Severus was missing to have the complete collection.

He looked at the card lovingly. "I can't believe you found this. I can really have it?" he asked eagerly. He started to stand up, causing Tonks to jump off of his lap. She heard him run into the bedroom and open up his album of chocolate frog cards. A moment later, he was back sitting on the couch.

"Thank you," he said, taking her hands. "That's absolutely amazing that you found that card."

"It's just the luck of the draw," Tonks giggled. "You make it sound like I had to fight a pack of wild graphorns to find it."

"All graphorns are wild," Severus corrected her automatically. She knew that that was the professor in him, correcting her like that.

"Fine. Like I fought off plain, boring, normal graphorns," Tonks said smiling. Then under her breath, she added, "That just happened to be wild."

"You're wonderful, you know that?" Severus asked, putting his arm around her and holding her close.

Tonks closed her eyes for a moment. She put her hand on her mid-section and silently said hello to the child that was growing inside her. Severus rested his head against hers. They had been through so much over the past two years. Some memories were tragic, while others were wonderful. But she wouldn't change a thing, not for all the galleons in the world.

Finally, Tonks and Severus were getting the bit of peace they both desperately deserved.

That is, at least for a few more months, until the baby was born. Then the real adventure would begin.