Down in the yard, Remus and Tonks slowly crept towards the border of the Shield Charm Remus had made. From what they could tell, Bellatrix was still inside., thinking they were in the house hiding.
"How far away did you make the shield?" asked Tonks, rubbing her injured knee as the couple crawled further away from the house.
"Not far, only another few meters," Remus said. Tonks took a silent deep breath and looked up at the moon, which was still shining down on their faces, pregnant and proud, like a Healer's lamp as he was about to examine one of his wards.
"You know what this means?" Tonks asked. Remus looked at her and nodded.
"I know exactly what this means," Remus said, going through the vague visions he'd had so far. He'd seen a birth and a war unfold before his eyes. The fact that Bellatrix Lestrange had been sent by the Dark Lord to destroy them, as they were seen as obstacles to get to Harry Potter, meant that Voldemort was planning his final assault. Harry was going to be of age in a month's time, and then Voldemort would have free range of him. Knowing Voldemort, he wouldn't waste a second of his time just sitting and waiting for a month to pass. The Dark Lord had to be rid of his enemies befoe they got rid of him. This made Remus wonder if he'd sent other Death Eaters after Kingsley or Mad Eye, or even Minerva McGonagall or the Weasley family.
"As soon as we're beyond the shield, we need to get to headquarters and warn them," Tonks said. "Maybe they've been targeted too."
Remus sighed. "Damn, I must have made this bigger than I imagined," Remus said, noting the nearly invisible fog that showed only him where the shield ended. "It's at least another 100 meters away."
"Usually you're really good at all that," Tonks said. "Maybe the moon, blue moon or not, made you a little off with your magic tonight?"
"Maybe so. I wouldn't put it past the moon. She hates me," Remus said. Tonks rolled her eyes. Remus was still wiped of a lot of energy, and he groaned. "As long as Bellatrix thinks we're in the house, we're okay. I need to rest just a moment." Remus sat down behind a moderately-large shrub. Tonks sat beside him and began picking a few twigs that had snagged in Remus' hair whiloe climbing down the trellis.
"You are such a drama witch," Tonks sighed. "The moon has nothing to do with it."
"So you can say," said Remus, staring up into the face of the moon, his mortal enemy.
"Remus, here what I say," Tonks began. She pulled the last twig out of her fiance's hair and put her hand over Remus' hand gently. Her fingers were only a little more than half the length of his big werewolf's hands. "You have such a negative mind. I can certainly see why you tend to be a pessimist, but you don't even realize how blessed you are! Look, you may be a werewolf, and that may be a pain in the ass—and believe me, I know about monthly pains of that magnitude, and so does my mother—but it also gives you such a great opportunity to contribute to the Order, like what Dumbledore had you do with being a spy in the werewolf Death Eater community! And even if transforming isn't fun, it's only one night a month."
Remus moaned. "But you don't know the pain it inflicts upon me, Dora. Turning into a werewolf is like having your sides split open and your innards leaked out into the street—"
"—like having the Cruciatus curse cast on you," Tonks said, raising an eyebrow. Remus looked at her and bit his lip. Okay, so she DID know what worse pain was. Remus himself had never been under Cruciatus, but he read and heard that there was never a worse pain felt by humankind. Tonks had just felt that pain not 20 minutes ago.
Remus decided to continue what he was saying. "Not to mention, before Wolfsbane was discovered, I lost myself in the moon every month. I could wake up a human the next morning and find out that I killed my friend…"
"But you never did!" said Tonks. "You remain so negative, and it has gotten so much worse since Sirius died. You haven't been able to produce a full Patronus since then!"
"I haven't needed to. And as for not killing my friends as a werewolf, well, in that case I've been lucky," Remus replied.
"You have! Why can't you rejoice in knowing that you HAVE been lucky!" said Tonks. "And even so, my point is that you let your lycanthrophy rule your life as if there were no other parts of it!"
"Like what?" asked Remus.
"Like the Order! We're in the middle of a war! Look at Harry Potter! He's lost his parents, his godfather, he's about to lose the only domestic protection he's ever had, and yet the boy is positively the most optimistic and admirable wizard I've ever known," Tonks said. "He knows who he is and how lucky he is not to have been blasted to death seventeen years ago!"
"I think we'd better keep going," Remus said, getting back on to his hands and knees. Tonks got up and followed Remus close behind.
"And you still have so many allies and friends despite what the stupid Ministry thinks of werewolves! Mad Eye and the Weasleys know about your lycanthropy, and yet they still would die for you! I would too!" Tonks said. This made Remus stop dead in his tracks and look at Tonks. "I would. And if you won't go through with the wedding because of it, then I'll have you bite me next month, and all our problems will be solved!"
Remus shook his head. "No, I could never ask you to do that!" he said.
"But doesn't that fact that I would do that mean anything to you?" asked Tonks. "I have the feeling that the war isn't the only reason you want to delay the wedding, Remus."
"Well, you're not feeling the right things, because it is the only reason," Remus lied.
Tonks looked at Remus with disbelief. "I can't believe you," she said. "You truly are a coward. I had hoped I was wrong when it came to that."
The look on Tonks' face was enough to break Remus' heart, and the fact that her hair went from red to a light mousey brown made him feel no better. Remus turned around and kept crawling towards the shield, still a ways off.
But yet another vision stopped him from continuing.
Remus was still in that dungeon room with Tonks at his side. He felt himself speak against his will almost immediatley. "I think we have just enough time to make it to the Hufflepuff common room if no one sees us," Remus said. Tonks had to help Remus along up the stone spiral staircase.
"I…I…I can't believe you actually came," said Remus after a moment.
"I can't believe you still can't believe that," said Tonks.
Suddenly, from about 30 feet behind the pair, they heard a noise.
"BOMBARDA!" It was Dolohov, full recovered and out of the Potions room. Remus' eyes went wide.
"Come on, Remus!" Tonks yelled. She and Remus kept falling over each other as they stumbled up the stairs, shooting spells behind them every so often. Dolohov dodged them all easily. Remus felt his heart speed up with every step they took.
"Dora, promise me something?" asked Remus.
"Don't tell me you're saying goodbye already!" Tonks said, rolling her eyes.
"If one of us falls, the other one must keep going," Remus said. "Swear it now, Dora!"
"Fine. I swear, but you have to as well," said Tonks. Remus could see the light at the high end of the staircase.
"I swear," said Remus. Tonks shot a Body-Bind curse down the stairwell. As they reached the threshold, Remus took Tonks in his arms and kissed her, for the first time, with passion.
"Remus, we can't say good bye yet—" Tonks began to say.
Remus then felt himself slip away again.
When Remus came to from the vision, he had unknowingly crawled far enough to be able to de-activate the Shield Charm. He looked at his Muggle watch, the one he nearly always wore on his wrist (it was his mother's). It was a little bit past midnight. Ugh, how could the night go so slowly? At least now he could take apart the shield and get himself and Tonks to safety. But, of course, in all the muss and racket back at the house, Remus had again absentmindedly fogrgotten his wand. He turned around and held out his hand. "Dora I need your wand again to …"
But when he looked, Tonks was gone.
This time, the vision is actually an excerpt from my Remus/Tonks "What Really Happened at the Battle Of Hogwarts that Rowling Didn't Have the Balls to Jot Down" oneshot called " (Check it out if you haven't already and leave me a review!) Thanx to all my loyal reviewers so far!