Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: Okay. Who doesn't think of killing one of the soulmates when given the Last Words AU? At least at first, because I know of at least one that is going to be disowning their soulmate. (Don't know the name yet, but HecateA is writing it and it's going to be Hope/Lyall. Keep an eye out for it!)

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Golden Times; Interesting Times; Old Shoes; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Two Cakes!
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 11 – Assignment 03
Subject (Task No.): Public Services (Task#3: Write about a risk to life.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Pinata [Easy] (Gryffindor); Romance Awareness [D27] (Last Words)("I can't believe you left me behind!"); Insane House Challenge [652] (Albert Einstein quotation); 365 [131] (Handsome); Galleon (bubblegum pink)
Space Address (Prompt): n/a
Representation(s): Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks; Lupin-Tonks
Bonus Challenges: In the Trench; Surprise!; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Unicorn; Creature Feature)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble); SN (Rail); HoSE (Keen); FR (Gestation)
Word Count: 497

(^^)
Left Behind
(^^)

No one really paid attention to the words. Who cared who your soulmate was when you only found out when you lost them? So, everyone had the words, but no one really cared about them. Tonks had met a few people who had met their soulmates. Being in law enforcement, particularly the combat heavy Auror Corps, meant that there's always a chance of any given mission being your last. Learning that your spouse or romantic partner had been your soulmate because of a mission gone wrong had to be the greatest hit against Corps morale. That was even including the war that was going on.

So Tonks didn't let the idea of a soulmate prevent her from pursuing a relationship with Remus Lupin, werewolf and a surviving former professor in the most cursed position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Oh, and all-around handsome fellow. Not only had she pursued said relationship, but she had gotten so much more than she had even hoped for: a family. Remus had graciously accepted her proposal and then agreed to elope with her.

And even that happiness paled in comparison to holding Teddy for the first time.

Then the baby had changed the tawny gold of his hair to match the bright blue that she had been wearing right then, and she felt like she could just combust with love.

Even with the war, life was good.

Until she came back downstairs from putting her week-old son to bed to discover that her husband left to go to Hogwarts because it was finally time to make their move to liberate the school.

And he had left without her.

Her mother had just rolled her eyes and made a dismissive gesture towards the fireplace, already knowing what her daughter would do. She gave her mother a quick kiss to the cheek and left, already shortening her bubblegum pink hair to something that wouldn't interfere with fighting. The first thing she did when she slid into the Room of Requirement was look for her wayward husband. He looked just as surprised to see her there as he had to find out that she was pregnant.

"I can't believe you left me behind!" She bumped shoulders with him. "We're in this together, you jerk, but you can't keep running off!"

"Teddy—"

"—would never forgive me if I didn't do what was right," Tonks interrupted, "and that includes doing my damnest to make sure we both get to the other side of this, husband mine."

"I love you, Nymphadora 'Don't-call-me-that' Tonks," Remus declared as the fighting began in earnest again. "Don't you ever forget that."

"Not even under a Memory Charm."

Their eyes met, knowing in a way that felt like prophecy.

Then they were moving away from each other to fight those who would practice genocide, all in the hope that their son would have a better world at the end of it all, even if he wouldn't have parents.